Iron Tail
by Cappel
Summary: It all started when he accepted a mission to destroy their guild and kill a few members. but when he was ready to strike he found that he couldn't. Now he is part of the guild he tried to destroy and on a mission to save it. GajeelxLevy.
1. Chapter 1 The Trouble with Fairies

**I own nothing Fairy Tail and all it's wonderful characters are owned by Mashima Hiro. **

What if Fairy Tail was centered on Gajeel Redfox and what he goes through? This is my first fanfic ever if you like review. I am ok with constructive criticism; tell me if you think my characters are ooc. If you don't like it bite me. Gajeel and Levy are my favorite characters so this will be focused on them. I will pull scenes directly from the manga but I will add to them like I do in this chapter. I intend for this to run parallel with the manga. The main thing I reason I have for Gajeel's ooc is because Levy said when jet and Droy attacked Gajeel that she had already forgiven him. And for the sake of this fanfic the following is her reason. Eventually I will add 2 original characters but they will not cause any friction with any of the ships.

Ships include: Gajeel X Levy, Elfman X Evergreen, Gray X Juvia, Natsu X Lisanna Maybe others I am open to requests.

Now without further interruption.

**Iron Tail.**

The hallway was dark as he walked through the guild. He slowly sauntered towards the stairs that lead to the second floor. As he walked up the stairs he looked over his should toward his guild mates. "Gi hi hi, idiots." He chuckled silently to himself.

When he reached the top of the stairs he sauntered the short distance to the large double doors to the master's office. He reached his gloved hand to the door and knocked roughly. "Enter!" the master called from within. The mage opened the door and slowly walked in he didn't appreciate being summoned and he would be damned if he didn't get there on his own time.

He looked at the man sitting behind the desk. He was a narrow man with a thin mustache that drooped down to his mouth. All his features were extremely pointed. He wore a cape and a ridiculous hat that came to a point. His eyes were hidden by the brim of the hat. "Ahh, Gajeel-san glad you could make it." Gajeel cringed at the way he said it. "I have a special assignment for you that I think that you would enjoy." He paused for a while as if waiting for Gajeel ask about the mission. When he didn't Jose went on. "It's about time for us to finally get rid of those pesky fairies. They have been a thorn in our side for too long."

Gajeel began smiling his maniacal grin at that. He hated those weak fairies and their pathetic excuse for a guild. He was already forming plans in his head. "Do you have a specific way you want it to be done?" Gajeel asked wanting to know if Master Jose had any creative ideas.

"Yes I do." The master replied. "I want you to damage their guild. Make it unusable, but do it at night you'll be by yourself and while you are strong you cannot take on Makarov by yourself. We need to draw him here so that Aria can get rid of his magic."

"That's a cowards' plan!" Gajeel shouted at the master of his guild. How could he go along with a plan that is so cowardly?

"Watch your tone Gajeel. " Jose said in a condescending tone. "I don't plan on taking away his powers to kill him. It would be far crueler to make him walk this earth without his powers." Gajeel let a small smile show on his lips for his master's sake. He still thought that it was cowardly. This should be settled in a fight to the death.

"Should I attack a few of them?" Gajeel asked hopefully.

"No, I want them at full strength if possible. So that we can prove that we are the strongest guild in Fiore. But if you think it won't be enough I want you to kill a few and burn our seal on their corpse." Jose answered. Gajeel couldn't argue with that. "Wait a day to leave we still have a few members out on missions and I want them to return before the war starts. I don't want them to complain about being gone and not getting the chance to fight."

"Sure." Gajeel answered as he walked to the door. He opened it and looked back to the master's desk. "I'll leave the day after tomorrow. Do you want to keep this quite?" The master shook his head and waved his hand signaling to Gajeel to leave. Normally he would have growled but he was in too good of a mood to care.

As Gajeel finished descending the stairs he was met by the water mage from the element four. "Can Juvia ask Gajeel-sama a question?" the mage asked dryly.

"You just did." Gajeel answered jokingly. He liked this mage she knew how to deal with him. She knew when he felt like talking and when he didn't. She was strong and she never tried to throw herself at him like the other females in this guild. The other women just liked him for his power she had her own. She only talked to anyone if she wanted to and he was one of the few that she did. She was she bundled herself up in all sorts of clothes but what he could see he knew that she was pretty attractive. He was fascinated by her blue hair but other than that he didn't really care. She was nice enough but she was too reserved for his taste. She began walking away from him with a little dejected look on her face. She could not take a joke.

"Sheesh, I was kidding." He said to her as he walked up to walked beside her as she left the guild. "You need to learn how to take a joke girly. Now what was your question?"

They were walking to their apartment complex in the rich part of town. They were both S-class mages and could afford the more expensive place. He didn't need as much space as they provided but it was far away from where the rest of the idiots in his guild lived so it was worth the price. It began to rain like he knew it would, it always rained around the blue haired mage. Gajeel knew that she had no control over it. He was only one that he knew of that she told her past to. Maybe that was why they got along as well as they did, they both had shitty childhoods. Well his didn't start to go downhill until Metalicana left… bastard.

"Is Gajeel-sama listening to Juvia?" the question made him realize that he had been lost in his thoughts. He looked at Juvia and saw that she was aggravated with his inattentiveness. It was raining harder now with her bad mood.

"Sorry he said I was lost in thought what did you say?" Gajeel asked rubbing the back of his neck. Generally sorry that he upset her, not because of the increase of rain, but because she was the closest thing he had to a friend since his time with Metalicana... asshole.

"Juvia asked Gajeel-sama what Master wanted?" she asked again.

"Oh, Master Jose told me that we are finally going to get rid of Fairy Tail, and he wants me to strike the first blow. Gi hi hi hi hi." Gajeel began laughing with glee as he thought about it.

"Juvia is happy for Gajeel-sama."

"Thanks Juvia I am looking forward to it, and you don't have to add the 'sama'"

"Juvia doesn't?"

"No were friends right? Well at least as close as either of us have been right?"

She nodded at that statement. "Juvia would be happy to consider Gajeel a friend."

"Good." He said letting a small smile out at her statement.

"Gajeel? Juvia has another question."

"Go ahead and ask. You don't need to ask if you can ask."

"Oh," she gasped with a little blush. "How come you can stand to be around Juvia it always rains." She asked sadly grabbing hold of the teru teru bozu doll around her neck as she stopped walking. Gajeel knew that this was an extremely sore subject for her and he didn't know what to say to make her feel better. He maybe a monster to his enemies and the idiots in his guild but she was different he respected her too much to see her this sad and not say something.

Gajeel looked at her at her and tried to figure out what he should say. He decided he should tell the truth. "I never cared about it raining on me and Metalicana. He actually loved the rain he said that it made him more appealing to mates. Asshole. I always liked it because it made everything smell so nice. And the sounds were so different from normal a strange kind of silence, but with a steady rhythm. Metalicana would study the rhythm then sing a song. Then after he left it always seemed to rain on important days. When I joined Phantom Lord. My first mission. The first time I killed someone. When it rains I feel like something will happen." He realized that his eyes were closed. He opened them and saw a strange look on Juvia's face.

"You realize if you ever even think about telling someone about this I will kill you in the most brutal way I can imagine." He said giving her the most intimidating glare that he could.

"Of course," She replied not even batting an eye. He turned around and started walking toward the apartments again. She walked beside him but a little back. They walked in a companionable silence for a few minutes until she spoke again. "Thank you for sharing that with Juvia."

"Don't mention it. Ever." he replied as they continued to walk for another few minutes.

"So what are you going to do to anger the fairies?" Juvia asked.

"Master wants me to destroy their guild in the middle of the night. Maybe kill a few." Gajeel stated as they reached their apartments and started to climb the stairs.

When they reached the second floor Juvia turned down the hall toward her door. Gajeel continued to climb. Juvia turned back to Gajeel, he stopped and looked down at her.

"Be careful Gajeel-sama, come back in one piece so that we can get rid of Fairy Tail together." She said to him and turned around and walked to her door.

"Sure," he told her as he resumed his climb. "If I don't kill them all first. Gi hi hi hi hi!" he cackled as he reached his door. He opened the door to the penthouse apartment. Being the strongest mage in the guild had its' perks. He showered and crawled into his bed to get some sleep. He had to come up with a plan tomorrow, and he was tired from the mission he completed that day.

A few days later Gajeel sat at his table eating some iron. He had just gotten back from destroying the fairies guild. He should feel great but he was pissed that they hadn't attacked yet. '_They are probably too scared to fight us. And while couldn't I … Aghhhh1' _He screamed to himself.

"Gajeel! I just heard. You attacked Fairy Tail, huh! Uhah, good job." somebody behind him said.

'_This bastard should know better.' _Gajeel thought his bad mood worsening.

"I bet their spirit must be pretty crushed by now! Serves them right!"

Gajeel had enough. He shot an iron pillar into the guys face without even looking up from his plate. Everybody laughed at the man Gajeel just punched, but Gajeel was to pissed to care he got up and reminded everybody that he was to be left alone while eating.

"Who cares about those Fairy Assholes." He said after scolding the guild, "we are the stronger guild"

Master Jose walked up then to congratulate Gajeel saying something about the wheels being set in motion but it wasn't enough for Gajeel. "You're too lenient, Master. Those rat bastards won't be lured out of their cages with just that, so left them another present." Gajeel said with an evil grin on his face for show as he thought about the previous night.

"My, my… though… you mustn't kill that person no matter what." The Master said and Gajeel laughed for show. "But I hope you did kill a few like I said."

"Don't worry I didn't touch Makarov." Gajeel said hoping the conversation would stop there. He couldn't understand what happened to him last night. He just…

_He had just got done piercing the fairies' guild with his iron pillars. Now he was searching for a member of the guild to kill. Gajeel had sat at the bar inside of Fairy Tail so that he could get a feel for his enemy. A brawl broke out during the day for no reason. They had caused some heavy damage to the guild, and Gajeel thought that if they destroyed their own guild they wouldn't care if he did. So here he is sitting in a tree in the park waiting for a fairy to come by. He heard some laughing coming his way and saw three fairies coming his way. _'My lucky day' _he thought to himself.' I would have been happy with one but now three fairies fly into the iron dragon's trap.' He wanted to laugh but he knew it could give him they got closer they disappeared into the leaves of the tree he was sitting in. but he saw enough to see it was three people, two guys and one girl. _

_Normally he would have been able to hear them easily but he was near a fountain and the leaves between them muffled their voices pretty well._

"_-not the point." One of the men was saying. "Did he really have to throw me into a table?"_

_There was a loud laugh before the owner said. "Well… you know how he gets about manliness. You should have not challenged him to arm wrestling Jet. You beat him in speed not strength."_

"_Shut up Droy!" Jet shouted back. "I can be just as strong as Elfman! Right Levy-chan?"_

_Gajeel heard a small giggle, and he felt a sudden warmth course through his body. 'what was that?' he thought to himself._

"_I think that you are fine the way you are." The girl, Levy, said to her teammate. Giving another small laugh, which made the warmth go through Gajeel's body again._

'_Seriously,' he thought angrily. 'What the hell is that?'_

_They were almost to him now. He was beginning to smell them even though he was slightly up wind of them but it didn't blow his scent directly towards them. He smelled plants and really bad cologne. There was also a smell that left him completely was the smell of leather and paper, with a hint of ink. It reminded him of a library. He shook his head to clear it. They were almost close enough. 'time to scare them.' Gajeel thought._

_A quick image of Metalicana flashed in his mind "Now Gajeel, don't play with your food." He scolded. 'Shut the fuck up' Gajeel thought,'… I hate you.'_

_It was time. Gajeel started to laugh while still hiding in the tree. The laughter below him instantly stopped. "Get behind us Levy." One of the voices, Droy Gajeel though, said. Gajeel jumped down from his perch in front of the three fairies. He heard a gasp as he landed. He looked up and saw the three one of the men wore a stupid hat and jacket. The other was in a simple white shirt with what looked like seed packets around his neck like a scarf. He barely noticed that as he saw the girl hiding behind them. Gajeel's breath caught in his throat._

_The first thing he noticed was her shoulder length blue hair held back by an orange bandana, it was wonderful. He wanted to hold it in his fingers, to sniff it, and rub it against his face. Her eyes were a beautiful greenish brown that reminded him of grass covered with a small film of dust. Her skin was a milky white and she had a nice figure. Her breasts weren't overly large but they were a nice size. Her waist was small even on her slight frame. Her hips flared out and created a nice hour glass figure. she was wearing a blue vest with a yellow bikini top underneath. She wore white shorts with a red belt. Gajeel looked ate her face and looked at her beautiful features. Gajeel felt the warmth come back into his body but this time it didn't leave._

_He almost gasped when he saw the look on her face, it was terror. She was terrified of him. Normally he loved this look in people's eyes but when he saw it on hers, he felt awful. He felt like he was going to be sick, he wanted to go hide away from her stare. 'What the fuck is wrong with me' he thought. He pushed the feelings back with a lot of effort, but no matter what he did he couldn't look back into her eyes._

"_Well?" the guy with the hat asked. Gajeel hadn't event realized that he had said anything. Gajeel would not show weakness now._

"_It's time for Fairy Tail to disappear." Gajeel said. The girl gasped and the two guys just stared._

_The guy in the hat charged Gajeel. He was fast. "What did you say you bastard?" He shouted Gajeel sent a few punches his way knocking him out._

"_Jet!" the girl shouted. The other guy reached for his seeds on his scarf but Gajeel didn't give him a chance. With on punch from his metal arm Gajeel knocked him down._

"_Levy…run." The man said before he passed out. Gajeel slowly walked to the girl. As he got closer he realized how small she was. She began backing away from him and fell down onto her butt, letting out a small shout of pain and fear._

_When she fell Gajeel got a good look at her face she was even more terrified and on the verge of crying. Gajeel stopped in his tracks the smile he had been forcing fell instantly. "Wh-what are you going to us." She gasped out choking back sobs, and her voice dripping with fear._

"_Whatever I want." Gajeel answered her feigning confidence. He was practically shaking in disgust with himself, and anger at the feelings he didn't understand. _

"_Please don't." She gasped tears starting to fall. Gajeel reached out wanting to comfort her for some reason. "NO!" She screamed she jumped up and pulled out a pin and wrote the word _explosion _in the air and threw it at him. He instantly turned his skin into iron. A huge explosion ripped the air in front of him. He was thrown back into the tree. He heard something crack, and he knew it wasn't the tree because of the pain in his back. 'Something may be broken.' He thought absent mindedly. _

_He slowly got up. He sucked in a breath at the pain in his back. "That will hurt for a few days." He said to himself. "That shorty packs a punch. Gi hi hi hi." He laughed at her strength with something digging at the back of his mind. Slowly his laugh died down as he realized that the girl was lying in a heap on the ground. "Levy!" he said running over to her. He stopped halfway to her savoring the way that her named formed in his mouth and wondering where that came from. He shook his head 'I don't have time to think about that she might be hurt.' He thought to himself sprinting over to her. 'Wait isn't that what I wanted?' _

_As soon as he reached her he had his answer. No. he checked her vital signs and saw that they were stable. He looked at her more closely and saw that she wasn't as injured as he thought. He heard a noise and froze. A dog walked by slowly. It brought Gajeel out of his strange set of mind. 'I have to finish this,' he thought. He walked over to the two men and picked them up one at a time and bound them to the tree with their arms stretched wide. _

_When he was done with them Gajeel went over to Levy and picked her up carefully and carried her bridal style to the tree. He looked down at the girl in his arms and he like what he saw. He thought briefly about caressing her hair or kissing her forehead. He felt disgusted toward himself for the thought. 'I must be the scum of the earth for thinking about taking advantage of her.' He couldn't stand the thought of what he was about to do. As if he were on auto-pilot he bound her to the tree between her friends and used mud to make the Phantom Lord seal on her stomach._

_He walked away from the tree and felt wetness on his face. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME?" He screamed at the sky_

Back in Phantom Lord, Gajeel shook his head to clear the confusing memory from his mind. He looked at Master Jose who had a scowl on his face like he knew what Gajeel had done. "My office now." Jose said coldly disappearing from view. Gajeel got up and walked to the stairs.

When he closed the door to the master's office he was quickly thrown up against the door. The doorknob pressed painfully into his still throbbing back. "You didn't kill anyone did you?" Jose screamed at him. When Gajeel didn't answer he was thrown into one of the support beam, back first. "how dare you disobey me I told you to kill them. If they don't come I will kill you!" Jose spat throwing Gajeel into the ceiling beams and then Gajeel fell onto the desk.

"They will still come." Gajeel assured Jose masking the pain in his voice. His back couldn't take much more, it would be stiff for a weak at least.

"For your sake I hope so," Jose growled.

A few weeks have passed since the war with Fairy Tail. Gajeel was sitting on the ruins of his old guild munching on some iron while looking at the ruins. _' well,'_ Gajeel thought to himself. _'this is the least we deserve.' _ He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a small voice call up to him.

"Yoooo!" the voice called, "is iron really that tasty?" Gajeel turned around and saw the form of an extremely small man.

"Master Makarov!" Gajeel said. So my time has come.

"if you want to kill me go ahead." Gajeel said as the small master began climbing the ruble. He then quietly said to himself. "It's the least that I deserve."

"Yesterday, Juvia joined are guild." Makarov said ignoring what Gajeel had told him.

Gajeel let a small smile form on his lips. Juvia had told Gajeel that she planned on trying to join Fairy Tail and he was happy for her. He thought he better not ruin her chances. "What?" he yelled feigning surprise.

"She was really worried about you, too." Makarov continued.

"What is that gloom-mongering woman thinking?" Gajeel said hating himself for it but if Juvia wants to join Fairy Tail she needs to sever ties with him.

Makarov made a face that told Gajeel he was onto him. "One cannot fall into darkness on one's own" Makarov said sagely. "How about coming over to our guild as well?"

Gajeel was stunned, "Are you kidding me? Are you seriously asking me that?" Gajeel shouted at the man.

"There are people in this world who enjoy being alone." Makarov said calmly. "But there isn't a single person who can bear solitude."

Gajeel face instantly fell. He turned away from Makarov. _'I deserve so much worse though.' _Gajeel thought._ 'I better remind him why I don't deserve his kindness.'_

"I… I destroyed your guild."

"I don't care about that anymore."

Gajeel was surprised. Then a picture of the blue haired mage bound to the tree flashed in his mind. '_I'm despicable.' _

"And your members…" Gajeel said sadly. He could only see the image of the blue haired mage that had haunted him for days.

"you hurt them, and no matter what happens, I will not forgive you for it." Gajeel's eyes widened at the sheer intensity of Makarovs voice. Makarov's voice softened as he continued. "But… if I were to ignore a young man attempting to fall into darkness, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself even more." He reached a hand out to the younger man. "This is not 'salvation.' It's simply a guiding light to tomorrow. Continue or stop dead. You will make that decision on your own."

Gajeel was shaking in disbelief but he took the old man's hand.

Levy woke up in the hospital. She was lightly bandaged. She had been hear a few days she looked out at the moon trying to sort through the dream that had woken her up.

_She looked down at her two Shadow Gear teammates, then at the monster that had done this. He was slowly walking towards her with a grin on his face, but Levy could tell that it was forced. But, the strangest thing was that he would not meet her eyes. She fell down and let out a small gasp at the sudden change and slight pain in her butt. She looked back up at him and his smile vanished as he stopped in his tracks. 'What is going through his mind?' she thought. "Wh-what are you going to us." She gasped out choking back sobs, and her voice dripping with fear._

"_Whatever I want." The strange man answered._

'_oh no.' Levy thought, 'he's going to rape then kill me.' _

"_Please... don't." she begged him. He reached his hand out. "NO!" Levy shouted jumping to her feet and pulling out her pen. She jumped back and wrote the first word that came to her mind giving it life with her magic. She threw it at him and saw what she wrote. 'crap' she thought when she realized what she wrote. A split second later she was thrown back by the force of the explosion. _

_She hit the ground hard. She couldn't move she was barely keeping conscious. It felt like she had been treading water for an hour and was now struggling to stay afloat. _

"_Levy!" a voice she didn't recognized called dripping with concern. "no. no. no. no." the voice repeated over and over. She could see the man who attacked them walking over quickly his mouth moving quickly. _

'_Oh my god.' She realized. 'Why is he concerned he wanted this.' When he got closer he dropped to his knees and began whispering things that Levy couldn't make out. But if she had to guess it was 'no'. He reached his hand out to her and she tried to shy away but she couldn't move a single muscle. His hand rested on her throat checking for a pulse. When he found it he let out a huge sigh of relief. 'The fuck?' Levy thought. She never caused be she was in too much pain and so confused she didn't care. He then began checking her for serious wounds. She was even more confused as she sank beneath the surface of consciousness._

_When she came to she could tell she was being carried. She felt rain hitting her face. 'That's weird,' she thought, 'it's not supposed to rain for a while.' She opened her eyes a bit and saw that she was being carried by the man. He was looking down at her with undeniable sadness, a few tears leaking out of his eyes. 'What?' she questioned as she passed out._

_She woke up again to a tingling sensation on her stomach. She opened her eyes again. And saw the man from Phantom drawing on her with mud. He was still crying and was whispering something over and over. She strained to hear him. "I'm so sorry." He repeated, she balked why was he sorry? "Maybe someday you won't see me as the monster that I am. I am so sorry." Levy was so confused. She began to lose consciousness again. 'Fat chance buddy' she thought._

_She came too once again and heard the man shout 'WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME!" she went completely into the realm of the unconscious this time thinking about how much hurt, anguish, despair, and self-loathing that she heard in his voice._

Back in the hospital Levy hugged her knees staring at her knees. "I forgive you." She said allowed to the room silently hoping it reached the man who she just couldn't hate.

Master Makarov was walking back to the guild with Gajeel following behind him when the younger mage stopped and asked in a small voice. "Why?"

"The same reasons I told you before." Makarov said without breaking his stride.

"No." the teen responded. "Why not kill me. I deserve it." Makarov stopped and turned shocked at what he heard. "I deserve to die a horrible, painful death for what I did to your people."

'Just what is going on in this boy's head?' Makarov thought to himself. 'Does he think he is that bad… is he? No, he is just confused.'

"Because it is not too late for you to change." Makarov told the depressed youth. "Because you could still do good in this world." He resumed walking, "with time you can redeem yourself."

The boy stood there for another moment. Now he walked a little lighter on his feet but there was still a huge weight on his shoulders. 'maybe I can forgive you in time.' The master thought, 'but I see now that the last one to forgive you will be yourself. The question is who will help you down that path?'


	2. Chapter 2 Meeting the Fairies

I own nothing from fairytail.

**Chpt. 2 Meeting the Fairies.**

Gajeel had been following Makarov through the streets of Magnolia for a while now. They were almost to the guild now. Master Makarov stopped and turned around to stare into the eyes of his new guild member. He must have seen the nervousness in Gajeel's eyes because he decided to offer some advice. "This will be hard." Makarov said slowly to the boy.

Gajeel scoffed at the remark. "No shit." He said then looked at the master and regretted his language to the man that had helped him so much. "Sorry," he said refusing to meet the smaller man's gaze.

Next thing Gajeel knew the master was laughing hard. As he wiped a tear from his eye he said, "don't worry about it son. From now on the members of this guild are your brothers and sisters. You are nakama. We take that very seriously here. It will take time but, if you make a solid effort to become their friend and be yourself it will happen. And to do that you must express the good and bad about yourself and except both from them also. You protect them and they will protect you."

Gajeel was stunned he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Brothers and sisters? Nakama? This was not how all the other guilds encountered he had so many questions to ask his new guild master. He opened his mouth to ask but they all just formed in his mouth at once and he couldn't speak. Makarov looked at him expectantly. "Son?" Gajeel finally forced out.

Makarov smiled and answered, "Yes I consider everyone in the guild as my children and now that refers to you as well."

Gajeel's lips curled at the ends in a small smile. No one had called him that since Metalicana left… traitor. "Back in Phantom we just looked after ourselves and crushed any who got in our way."

"Jose was a fool," Makarov spat in spite, "don't you dare try any of that here or I will end you."

Gajeel looked at Makarov and could tell that he meant it. Gajeel didn't need the threat. He wouldn't have dreamed betraying this man that had offered him so much and intended to prove it to him. He looked Makarov right in the eye and said, "I wouldn't dream of it." Gajeel just hoped that Makarov understood that he was serious.

He must have because he nodded slowly never taking his eyes off Gajeel's and through that gaze he could tell that the master didn't fully trust him but was beginning to. "With time," Gajeel said, "I will prove it to you."

The master smiled with a huge grin at that and nodded. "You just did." Makarov stated matter-of-factly. "But now you need to convince the others of what you just convinced me." He turned and resumed his walk.

"Gahhhh!" Gajeel shouted causing Makarov to turn. "I don't understand! How can you say that after what I did, who I am! You should hate me! You should want me dead!"

"Who you were." Makarov said as he walked back to Gajeel extending his arm to place it on the boy's shoulder.

"What?" Gajeel asked in exasperation.

"I do hate who you were." Gajeel flinched. "But who you are NOW I have hopes for. And I am sure I will like who you will be."

"How can you say that with what I did?"

Makarov smiled sadly. "While the mistakes that we have made are a part of us, they do not define us. We must learn from our mistakes so that we never make them again. So that we can push on to the future." He looked into Gajeel's unsure eyes and nodded reassuringly. "Now let's go to the guild and introduce you to everybody. There is still some work to be done and your metal can help in the building process."

They walked up to the guild as a bell sounded, signaling lunch. The guild was almost complete the frame was up what was left would take about three days for the structure to be livable. Then the decoration, that Gajeel was sure the boisterous guild would want, would go up. As they reached the door Makarov turned to him and told him to wait here until he summoned him inside. Gajeel complied.

'This was going to be my hardest mission yet.' Gajeel thought to himself while he tried to get his breathing under control. If he said he wasn't nervous a baby could tell he was lying. 'Well guess I should try to smile.' He put on the best smile he could. He turned his arm to metal so that he could check his reflection.

"I look like a killer." Stated as he looked at his creepy smile in the reflection of his arm. "Guess I should get rid of any expression I don't think I have any that aren't scary."

Gajeel let his face fall into his trademark stare. He then listened to Makarov speaking to the guild. "…may not be happy with him-"

'Understatement of the year' Gajeel thought

"-but I want you to try to get along. I have made my decision and he is staying." There was some excited murmuring.

"Master," a very sweet sounding voice said, "I am sure that if you have chosen this person than we should have no problem accepting him into our guild."

'Ohhh you are soooo wrong girly.' Gajeel thought to himself with a smirk.

"Thank you Mira-chan. Now without further ado let me introduce the newest member of our guild-"

'That's my cue' Gajeel thought as he stepped through the door way.

"- Gajeel Redfox."

Gajeel stepped beside master Makarov and heard the collective gasp from the group. Somewhere in off to the side Gajeel heard glass breaking and several pieces of silverware fall with a clatter onto the owners' plate. 'I was honestly expecting worse.' Gajeel thought.

He looked around the guild looking at everyone. Some stared at him with angry faces; others just gawked with their mouth open. The rest looked questioningly at master Makarov. He saw the two men that he had attacked that night they were standing in front of the girl who was hiding behind a pillar shaking in fear. The look she gave him made him feel sick. 'Well, that doesn't surprise me. I'm just surprised no one has attacked me yet.' He could practically see the hate radiating of two men.

Silence had engulfed the room for about a minute Gajeel felt like he should say something so he raised hand and supplied a low "yo."

All hell broke loose there was all sorts of shouting some were yelling at him the others yelling at Makarov, mostly at Gajeel.

"How can you let that monster in?"

"You rotten bastard."

"Master, as a man I cannot accept this."

"This bastard almost killed Levy."

"Yeah!"

"Master I'll always support you. Are you sure?"

Makarov raised his hand and silence once again enveloped the room. He looked over at the blue haired girl hiding behind the support beam. "Levy?" he said. "I didn't hear you say anything what do you think about Gajeel joining Fairy Tail? If I were to listen to anybody it would be you. Gajeel hurt you the most."

Gajeel's heart sank there was no way that she would be even remotely okay with it she. Her team mates turned to her and began telling her what to say, Gajeel didn't think that they realized how loud they were.

"Levy tell this bastard to go drown in a lake!" Jet shouted

Tell him you want him gone from this guild, gone from this world!" Droy countered.

Gajeel knew where this was going he turned on his heel and began walking out of the door. He was grateful for master Makarov's offer and effort. But Gajeel knew that once she spoke there was no chance in hell that anyone would accept him. He looked at Makarov to thank him for trying, but the tiny master was still looking at Levy. The noise had stopped behind him as the two men saw Gajeel turn. He could feel the sneers on the men's faces. He reached for the knob when he heard a small voice squeak "I don't mind."

Gajeel spun around and stared at the girl, mouth hanging open. Everyone was still staring at him or Levy as if they were still waiting on an answer. Gajeel realized that they were. His dragon hearing was the only way he heard it. The master turned to look at Gajeel with a smile on his face. Gajeel knew that he had heard it too, that was a bit unsettling to Gajeel but he was too focused on the small female mage.

Her team mates noticed that Gajeel's change in action, and they looked down at the girl behind them.

"Say that again Levy-chan, a little louder though." Master Makarov said while he stared at Gajeel.

"I don't mind." The mage said again louder this time. She was still hiding behind the pillar and shaking in fear, but Gajeel was too focused on what she head. His mind was reeling. 'She doesn't mind me being here. How can she possibly say that after what I did?' Gajeel thought to himself.

"What?" her teammates shouted and a few others in the guild. They all began shouting together saying things that he did wrong to her. She covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes tight until they were done.

When everyone settled down she looked at her teammates and spoke softly to them. "I'm sorry guys but I trust master's judgment." She looked at Makarov. "If he thinks it's a good idea than I'll go along with his decision."

Makarov clapped his hands together signaling the end of the argument. "So that's that." He said in a cheerful tone. "Everyone finish you lunch we have a lot of work to do. Gajeel after you grab something to eat go find some place to live then hurry back here we need your help building the guild."

He walked off and sat at one of the tables that were set up to serve the drinks to the guild members until the interior was finished. The only thing done on the inside was the balcony and the stairs that lead up to it. No walls no anything just the collapsible tables that the members were seated around.

One of the women walked up to him. She had a cute curvy body like most of the women in Fairy Tail. Her most notable feature was her pure white hair. She also was the only person in the guild that was smiling. When she reached him she cocked her head to the right and asked, "Would you like anything to eat Gajeel-kun?"

He looked he looked at her thinking about it. He saw the faces of the members of the guild and decided that it would be best to let them adjust with him out of view. "No thank you Strauss-san, I'm not that hungry I think I should go find a place to live. But thank you for the offer."

She nodded at him in understanding, knowing the real reason that he wanted to leave. "Well happy hunting." She said with a big smile. He turned and began walking out of the guild when she called out to him. "Oh, and Gajeel-kun." He turned and looked at her. "Please just call me Mira."

Gajeel nodded. "Sure thing," he said as he walked out of the guild.

Levy was hiding behind a support beam. Master had just announced that the man who attacked her a few weeks ago would be joining the guild. She was shaking, but not because she was mad. She was afraid not just because of what he had done, but because of what she was feeling. She was scared of the fact that she had forgiven him so easily and for what? A dream? No something inside told her that it wasn't a dream. She had seen him there apologizing as he painted the Phantom Lord seal on her stomach after he had crucified her. She had seen the tears fall down his face almost like he didn't know that they were there. She had heard him scream out in anguish. Right? That was real… right?

'No it was a dream,' she told herself. 'Gya! I can't even believe myself. And I know that even if I could believe it was a dream. I don't think I could be mad anyway.'

Levy looked back at the man he was tall. His skin was dark, 'that's a nice tan... no stop it.' His hair was extremely shaggy and a deep black. Levy felt like she was staring at the night sky while looking at it. He had a lot of piercings: three in his nose, three in each ear, and three making up each eyebrow. Next she looked at his eyes, they were blood red. They were terrifying but also beautiful.

He was standing there with his arms folded he looked like he was about to attack. He stared at her and their eyes met. His hard gaze softened and she saw a look that flashed through many emotions: sadness, regret, nervousness, and shame. Then in a flash his hard expression returned. He turned around and walked to the door. 'No!' her heart and mind screamed at him.

'Where did that come from?' she thought. He reached for the door. 'No! Don't go! I don't mind.' She whispered that last part so quietly that even she didn't hear it, but he did because he turned around. Levy had no idea where that came from she was still terrified of him, and what he could do. But all she knew was that he didn't want him to leave.

Master Makarov said something but, Levy was too focused on Gajeel to hear what he said. Instead she stared at Gajeel and repeated herself. "I don't mind." The smallest smile possible graced his lips and Levy like what she saw.

Jet and Droy rounded on her and demanded an answer. "I'm sorry guys but I trust master's judgment." She looked at Makarov. "If he thinks it's a good idea than I'll go along with his decision."

Mira walked up to him and they talked about lunch. Gajeel's answers were really formal and overly polite for his apparent attitude. 'He must be trying to make a good impression,' she thought. When he left Jet and Droy started sulking so she left them there and went to talk to Mira since Lucy wasn't there.


	3. Chapter 3 Dealing with Fairies

**I was going to write this over the weekend but my life decided to become interesting. One of the high points was having to break up a fight that my dad got into with some random asshole. So I got no writing done but I did come up with more ideas for the story. I also decided to get rid of one of my OCs but don't worry it will be a while before it is introduced.**

**As usual I own nothing.**

Chapter 3

Dealing with Fairies.

'That was awkward,' Gajeel thought as he walked away from his new guild. 'But it could have gone worse.' He had just been introduced by Makarov to Fairy tail and it was obvious that nobody wanted him there. Everybody stared at him with so much hatred in their eyes it would have made somebody else's skin crawl, but he expected that much. He actually expected more actually. Gajeel had thought that as soon as he stepped through the door he would have been punched back out by a flaming fist.

Now that he thought about it he didn't see that idiot Salamander inside the guild. As he walked he cocked his head to the side. 'That Heartfilia girl wasn't there, neither the Titania. I wonder where they are?' he thought to himself.

"Gajeel-kun!" someone gasped in surprise. Gajeel got an angry glare on his face. He may have just joined Fairy Tail but he would be damned if they ever got that familiar with him. He spun around getting ready to let an iron dragon's roar off to teach the perpetrator a lesson.

When he finished his spin, what he saw made him swallow his attack on the spot.

"Juvia?" Gajeel choked out with a few pieces of metal coming out of his mouth and flying a few feet.

"It really is you Gajeel-sama?" The rain mage questioned, "Juvia is happy that you came." Gajeel was even more shocked 'happy' Gajeel couldn't think of a time when the mage had ever been happy. He looked at her more closely now she had cut her hair, it was still around shoulder length but it was straight now. She wore a simple dress that was dark blue. It was a very modest dress; the only skin she showed was her hands and face. The dress and white lace around the neck and wrists, the dress ended about an inch below her knees. Her legs were covered by long black boots that showed off her nice legs. She had a bandage on her cheek and the way that she was walking Gajeel knew that she had more under her cloths.

When she reached Gajeel she surprised him even more by wrapping him in a tight embrace. Gajeel didn't know what to do he just stood they balking at the woman that was touching him. "Juvia is very happy that Gajeel-sama is here." Gajeel still didn't know what to do but he knew that he didn't want to hurt this girl. She had risked a lot for him by asking Makarov to accept him into the guild. He brought his hands down and returned her hug awkwardly. During his time in Phantom Lord Gajeel didn't like many people in fact, he only liked two. Juvia and the flame mage from the element four Totomaru, the rest had either annoyed him or in the case of Aria freaked him out, not an easy thing to do.

Gajeel released the smaller mage, while she held on for a second longer. "Have you been to the guild yet? Juvia asked Gajeel after she broke contact.

"Yes," he answered. "I just left from there I am going to find a place to live for now."

"Isn't it lunch time?"

"Yeah… well, they don't exactly want me there." Gajeel stated matter-of-factly, "not that I blame them for that."

Juvia's expression darkened, "you did do a lot of bad things to them." Gajeel flinched at her words. Her tone wasn't harsh, but sad. He didn't flinch at the words but the truth behind them.

"I know," he finally managed.

"Don't worry. They accepted Juvia pretty quickly; if you try Juvia is sure that they will accept you too." She said with an attempt at a reassuring smile. She failed.

"I won't hold my breath." Gajeel said with a small strained chuckle.

He began to walk away thinking that the conversation was over, but the other mage followed him and began talking again. "Juvia is serious Gajeel-sama if you just be yourself they will accept you."

Gajeel kept walking he didn't want to continue with this topic. He looked back at the blue haired girl and saw a way out. "How did you get those injuries?" Gajeel asked to change the topic, and also because he was interested.

"Oh," Juvia gasped, Gajeel knew that his plan worked. "Juvia met with Gray-sama and his friends in a casino. Erza was kidnapped and Juvia helped Gray-sama rescue her." She continued to talk about her experience Gajeel just looked at the mage he had known for years. She had changed a lot in the short time since Phantom was disbanded. She was smiling, blushing, and she spent most of her time talking about this 'Gray' person and Lucy her 'rival in love.' The biggest thing that Gajeel noticed though was that it didn't rain around her anymore.

"And Gray-sama and his friends decided to stay at the resort for another week." She finished.

"How did you meet this Gray?" Gajeel asked.

"When we attacked Fairy Tail he was the one I fought. He saved Juvia from falling to her death." She said with an adoring tone. Gajeel looked back and couldn't understand what he saw. The normally stoic mage's entire face was scarlet. She had her hands on her cheeks and she was fidgeting nervously. 'What could possibly cause her to do that?' Gajeel thought to himself. Gajeel felt a small smile come across his face, he was happy for Juvia. Gajeel was one of the few people who knew about her past, and he was glad that she finally found some happiness. Even if he could never have any.

"Juvia?" Gajeel asked. The other mage stopped her movement and stared at him. "Are you happy?"

She was taken aback by the question, but after a second she nodded.

"And you like this guy?" again she nodded; faster this time.

"If he ever hearts you tell me and I'll kill him… painfully." Gajeel finished with a deadly serious expression on his face.

"If you ever touch Gray-sama I will…" Juvia started to scream. Gajeel's gaze never faltered. She stared at him and understanding came to her. She let go of the magic she had been attempting to unleash.

"Thank you, Gajeel-kun." She finished as she wrapped him in another tight hug.

Gajeel returned the hug. "But if you ever tell anyone about this I will kill you too. I have an image to maintain." He growled at her. Juvia just smiled and nodded in his chest.

An hour later Gajeel was walking back into Fairy Tail. He had rented an apartment on the seedy side of town, which wasn't even bad. It was a simple place it had a small living room with a kitchen on the right wall, all it had was a fridge and a stove. On the wall opposite of the entrance there were two doors, one leading to the small bathroom, the other to the bedroom that was also connected by another door. The whole apartment was 625 square feet, not much but it was all that Gajeel needed. The best part about the place was that it was across the street from the junk yard. Gajeel had stopped by and picked up a bag full of metal and munched on some on his way back to the guild.

As he walked toward the building everyone stopped what they were doing and glared at him. He acted as if he didn't care and walked all the way into the guild. When he got inside there were only a few people inside. He saw master sitting on the same table he was on when Gajeel left. Mira was cleaning mugs with a rag, chatting with a tall woman in jeans and a bikini top with a feathered bag slung over her shoulder.

Gajeel heard a gasp to his left. He looked over and saw Levy hiding behind her friends who had been trying to put together more permanent tables than the ones that were scattered and broken around the room. Gajeel wondered how they got broken and was about to ask when Jet spoke. "Come on guys lets go outside and see if we can help out there. It's gotten a little crowded in here, maybe master should get rid of a few members." He spat as he dragged Levy out staying between her and Gajeel.

Gajeel growled at him as he walked out. "Jet!" Mira screamed at him. Gajeel looked at her and shook his head at her. She huffed but nodded, the other girl gave him a nod of approval. 'Where the hell did that come from?'

"Ah Gajeel! You made it back pretty quickly. Did you find a place?" Makarov asked. Gajeel nodded the affirmative. "Good can you and Cana here put the tables together since Shadow Gear decided to go get some sun?"

"Sure." Was all Gajeel said as he walked over to the table that Shadow Gear had left.

Cana walked over and extended her hand to Gajeel. "Welcome to the guild. My name is Cana." She said. Her face was blank but in her eyes told Gajeel that she didn't trust him but was willing to give him a chance… at least more than some of the others of the guild.

Gajeel extended his own hand, "Gajeel."

"Alright let's get to it." She said sitting down in an undignified position. She lifted up a barrel that came out of nowhere and took a drink. 'Where the hell did that come from? Is that alcohol?' Gajeel questioned himself. "Ever use one of these?" she asked handing Gajeel a hammer.

"Gi hi." Gajeel laughed. This chick has balls. "Never needed one." He answered as he placed a finger perpendicular to the wood. He concentrated on his magic and shot a nail into the wood through his finger. He looked at the hole. "Damn too much." He said looking at the hole. The nail had gone in about ten millimeters into the wood, not much of a mistake but Gajeel always tried to be perfect in his projects.

"Neat trick." Cana said. "I guess I'll hold the pieces where they need to be and you'll do that and we'll be done in no time."

Four hours later Gajeel and Cana had finished all the tables for the mess hall and about a hundred extras that Cana said would only last about two months, less depending on how much Natsu was around. After they finished with that they helped Mira put the bar together. As they were finishing everyone else began filing into the hall for dinner.

"Damn Cana, you built these tables quick." One of the older mages with a scraggly beard said as he walked in.

"Thanks Macao, but it was mostly Gajeel. The guy is a human hammer." She said with a smile on her face as she slapped Gajeel on the back. He looked at her she glanced at him. She still didn't trust him but she didn't hate him either. She was giving him a chance and that was all he could ask for.

Gajeel looked out at his new guild mates. Most were giving him the same look as Cana. Jet and Droy were glaring daggers at him, while Levy hid behind them. Juvia and Mira had huge smiles on their faces. "Well the foods ready Cana and Gajeel since your right here why don't you help me serve."

When they were done serving the others they piled their own plates. It was Gajeel's favorite normal food, spaghetti. Gajeel grabbed his plate and walked outside to sit on the porch. As soon as he got outside he heard Cana's irritated voice behind him. "You know… you won't make friends if you keep alienating yourself." Gajeel shrugged "well come on. I guess I'll sit with you." She grabbed the back of his shirt and started pulling him inside. She really did have guts.

Gajeel swatted her hand away, when she didn't break her stride, he followed her the rest of the way. They sat down at an empty table and were soon joined by Mira, Juvia, and a large man with the same white hair as Mira. "Gajeel this is my brother Elfman." The larger man stared down at him unsure but he eventually nodded. "So Juvia you just went out on a mission yesterday, not even an hour after joining the guild what was it for?" Mira asked tilting her head.

"Master asked Juvia to help the farmers in the next town over. He said that they were experiencing a small drought, and he thought Juvia's water magic could help."

"Oh that's good," Mira said excitedly. "He must have sent you to the farms that we get our food from."

"Was there a hops farm?" Cana asked anxiously. Juvia nodded to the mage with a strange look. "Good." Canna said letting out a relaxed sigh. "I won't run out of booze then."

She slammed down another barrel down on the table.

"Okay, seriously where the hell do you get those from?" Gajeel asked with a growl.

Cana stared at Gajeel for a second and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know alcohol is never far away from me."

"As a man I can accept that." Elfman said. "What about you Gajeel?"

"Sure, I guess," Gajeel said. 'What's up with this guy?'

"Do you consider yourself a man Gajeel?"

Gajeel was getting mad now he jumped up and got in the large man's face. "Damn, right I do."

Elfman smirked. "Then how about a manly challenge, arm wrestling."

Gajeel smirked and laughed. "You're on. I never back down from a challenge."

Suddenly a barrel was slammed down between the two. "Hold on boys. If were gonna do this we're gonna do it right." Cana said with a big grin on her face as she climbed on top of her barrel. "Taken all bets! Beast Arm Elfman against Gajeel…" she leaned down towards Gajeel.

"Black Steel." He provided. She gave him a look and he just shrugged. He didn't pick hit, didn't hate it either though.

"Black Steel Redfox!" she finished. Everyone started coming up to her holding money and shouting who they thought would win. When it was all tallied Gajeel came out behind but not my much. All well, that just means more winnings.'

Gajeel sat down and clasped hands with Elfman. Mira put her hands on top of theirs and after a second released them and they were off. It was an even match. Neither Elfman nor Gajeel gave up any ground. Everyone else was crowding the table cheering for who they bet on.

"Let's make this more interesting" Gajeel said through gritted teeth. Straining with the effort.

"How?" Elfman asked in the same strained manner.

"Let's add our magic."

"As a man I accept you challenge." Elfman said as he changed his arm to that of a beast. He almost over powered Gajeel when he changed but Gajeel quickly turned his arm into iron. His arm was now coated in the black scales that gave him his moniker. It was still an even match. Gajeel was wondering how this mage from Fairy Tail had so much strength, until he remembered that this is the mage that caught one of his kicks during the war. Elfman changed his arm to a different shape and he started to gain ground. Both men were shaking from the effort; they had been going at it for a few minutes now. Gajeel hand was almost down. In a last ditch effort he shot a steel rod out of the back of his hand and into the table. The force of the shot propelled his hand back up and over. Elfman faltered at the quick change and that was all Gajeel needed. With a yell Gajeel drove the rest home and pushed Elfman's hand onto and through the table.

Everyone stared at what happened. Gajeel still sat in his chair breathing heavily, Elfman was doing the same except on the ground. Juvia was the first one to say anything, "Juvia thinks Gajeel-sama might have done too much." All of a sudden everyone started laughing a few people clapped Gajeel on the back.

Elfman got up with a huge grin on his face. "As a man I can accept the defeat. You're strong." Gajeel nodded his head. Everyone was still laughing. Cana was dividing up the winnings, while Mira got a new table.

Cana walked over to Gajeel and handed him his cut of the winnings. The rest of the evening went off without a major incident. A brawl started for no reason. Out of his table only Elfman joined in and that was after Mira got hit by a flying plate. When it hit her it cut her above her eye, blood instantly poured out of the wound but she kept talking and smiling like it was an everyday thing; which kind of unnerved Gajeel.

Two hours later Gajeel left the guild. Cana had beaten several members in a drinking contest, and Gajeel and Juvia had sat in a corner watching their new guild mates and talking to each other. Gajeel decided to go home and get his home in order. As he left the guild he let a small smile come across his lips as he thought, 'Maybe this guild won't be so bad after all.'

Levy sat at the table with her team mates. They kept glaring over at Gajeel's table, she refused to look because if she knew that if she did she would start to shake, and she refused to do that.

All of a sudden Cana was standing on a barrel announcing an arm wrestling match between Gajeel and Elfman. She glanced over to their table and she glanced at Gajeel. He had a maniacal smile on his face. It reminded her of that night, but she noticed something different about it. His eyes weren't showing the same evil hunger that he had that night. Instead they were replaced with something that looked like happiness. She liked that look in his eyes; she wanted to see more of it. She felt her lips curl into a slight smile. 'Where did that come from?' she thought as she attempted to get rid of the smile.

Jet put his arm around her. "I am tired of that bastard making you shake in fear." He said shooting Gajeel a glare that could kill. "How dare he join this guild, and act like nothing ever happened. The only reason he hasn't been attacked yet is because master forbid it. Mira I expect she's nice to everyone, Elfman does whatever his sister says. But Cana, she's a traitor. I thought she was our friend but, now she's paling around with that guy. Ughhh!"

Levy put a hand on his' shoulder. "Really I don't mind." She tried to reassure her friend. She knew it didn't convince him; she couldn't stop herself from shaking.

The wrestling match started and it was an even match they went for five minutes before Gajeel won. When he did something inside of Levy did a back flip. 'What is going on with me?' She screamed in her mind.

"That bastard cheated." Droy said bitterly.

"No he didn't. They both agreed to use magic." Levy said. While she still shook when she was around Gajeel she was tired of listening to her teammates complain.

Later that night Gajeel left what could be considered early in this guild. Everybody in the guild stole a glance his way as he left. "I'll be back." Jet said darkly. Droy locked eyes with him and some sort of understanding was passed between the two. Levy didn't notice this she was still staring at Gajeel as he left.

"Okay. Hurry back." She told him turning to give him a huge smile.

"You know me. Back in a flash." He said in a monotone voice. Levy gave him a worried glance when Cana grabbed her hand and took her to a different table.

"Hey!" Droy exclaimed.

"Relax I'll bring your girlfriend back when I'm done with her." The older girl called over her shoulder, making Droy blush. Cana steered Levy over to a secluded table in the corner. When they sat down Cana stared at Levy for a minute before finally asking, "So…what do you think about our new metal head."

Levy looked down at her hands. How did she feel about him? She was scared of him that was certain, but she also couldn't shake that memory of that night after she sent that spell at him. She had forgiven him, but she was still unsure around him. She looked back at Cana after spending a long time with her thoughts. The older girl hadn't broken her gaze and was still expecting an answer. "I don't know." Levy was finally able to choke out.

Cana nodded her head at the younger mage. "Well then let's sort this out together." She said sitting next to the shorter girl and placing an arm around her in a friendly hug. "Do you hate him?" she asked with a hard expression, it gave Levy the impression that how she answered could cause harm to Gajeel.

"No." Levy said looking back at her hands.

Cana grabbed both of Levy's shoulder tightly and made her look directly into the older mage's eyes. "Do you hate him? She asked again stressing each word.

Levy looked down and answered again but with more conviction. "No."

Cana let go of her shoulders. "Why not?"

Levy thought about that. 'Why don't I hate him?' she asked herself. 'He attacked me and my friends. Crucified us, and branded me with his guild seal.'

_Yes, but he didn't mean it._ Came a small voice from inside her.

'That was a dream' she tried to reason.

_You know it wasn't. _The voice reasoned.

'I don't have any proof that it wasn't.' She argued.

_You don't believe that for a minute._

'Yes I do!' She yelled at the voice.

_You can't even lie to yourself._

'Shut up.'

_Ha_

She looked at Cana who was giving her a strange look. Levy's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I don't know why."

"Have you forgiven him?" Cana asked raising her voice in obvious confusion.

"Yes." Levy said without thinking. She had forgiven him that was the only thing that she knew about what she was feeling.

"How?" Cana asked flatly.

Levy thought about her dream, it was the reason after all. She could tell Cana about it, about how Gajeel had apologized over and over while he had done it. She saw the anguish in his eyes as they slowly leaked tears. She thought about how he looked earlier in the day, the emotions that flashed across his stoic face. How he had actually smiled when he was arm wrestling with Elfman. She doubted that any of the others had noticed any of these things; she doubted that he even knew about any of them, and Levy wanted to keep them to herself. "I just feel like he didn't want to do it."

"And what gives you that impression?" Cana asked with a raised eyebrow.

'This is going to get harder if it keeps going.' Levy realized. "When he did… it. His eyes were dead. He did it without malice, anger, or any emotion. It was like he was mentally trying to be anywhere but there." She finally said it wasn't a lie but not even a fourth of the truth.

"Then why are you so terrified around him?" Cana asked with compassion.

Levy thought about it for a while before answering. "I guess I am just afraid of what he can do… and what he could have done." She finished in a small voice.

Cana didn't say anything she just reached forward and pulled the smaller girl into a tight hug. Levy was thankful for the contact until she realized that she couldn't breathe. She started to push away but Cana just pulled her tighter, crushing Levy into her breasts. She started flailing around which made Cana realize what was happening. "That wasn't nice!" Levy told the girl when she had enough air.

"Sorry, sometimes I forget how big mine are. With everyone else their breasts provide some resistance." The bigger girl said seductively pushing her breast up with her arm.

"You're being mean Cana!" Cried the smaller girl.

"Relax I'm sure you're just a late bloomer. Someday yours will get bigger." She said in a teasing manner. Levy looked up at the older girl.

"I'm fine just the way I am. Why would I want overly large boobs like that?" Levy pouted.

Cana had a sly smile on her face and a dark look in her eyes. "So that one day you could trap Gajeel in them like I just did to you."

Levy's entire body turned red. "That was really mean! I'm going home!" levy screamed as she ran out of the guild shaking her head trying to get the image out of her head. In her haste she almost ran over Jet who was wiping his hands with a red cloth as he walked into the guild.

Gajeel decided to tour the town a bit on his way back to his apartment. Thirty minutes later he arrived at his place he looked at his door. "I should have expected this." He said to himself.

Someone had written on the door in red paint. Gajeel sniffed the air trying to find any trace scents from the person who had done this. "So," he said, "You want me to 'fuck off' huh. Do ya Jet."

Gajeel walked inside and grabbed a towel to wipe of the paint. "Maybe he's not such a wimp after all." Gajeel said with a smirk. He quickly wiped off the door and went to his bathroom for a shower.

After his shower Gajeel crawled into his bed and tied to go to sleep. He thought about the day he had. 'These fairies sure are strange,' he thought, 'if one of our enemies had tried to join Phantom we would have killed them.' An image of the cowering blue haired mage flashed in his mind. "Well I guess I deserve worse," he said as he drifted off to sleep.

"_It's time for Fairy Tail to disappear." Gajeel said. The girl gasped and the two guys just stared._

_The guy in the hat charged Gajeel. He was fast. "What did you say you bastard?" He shouted Gajeel sent a few punches his way knocking him out._

"_Jet!" the girl shouted. The other guy reached for his seeds on his scarf but Gajeel didn't give him a chance. With on punch from his metal arm Gajeel knocked him down._

"_Levy…run." The man said before he passed out. Gajeel slowly walked to the girl. As he got closer he realized how small she was. She began backing away from him and fell down onto her butt, letting out a small shout of pain and fear._

_When she fell Gajeel got a good look at her face she was even more terrified and on the verge of crying. "Wh-what are you going to me." She gasped out choking back sobs, and her voice dripping with fear._

"_Whatever I want." Gajeel answered. "Please don't." She gasped tears starting to fall. He reached out and grabbed her. "NO!"_

"No!" Gajeel screamed with the Levy in his dreams. He was shaking violently and he was covered in sweat. He jumped out of his bed and turned on the lights. He looked down on his bed and saw that there was large sweat stain in the shape of his body on the sheet. Gajeel was breathing heavily like he had just run thirty miles. He looked at the clock on his night stand; it was three in the morning. Gajeel took the sheets off his bed and threw them in a pile. Gajeel wasn't going to fall back asleep tonight. He decided to go for a walk.

He walked around aimlessly for a while before ending up in front of the guild. He walked into the building and looked around nobody was there. He saw that there were a few tables broken so he got some of the spares out and set them up. 'What does this guild have against tables?' he thought. When he was done he wandered over to the bar and began working. He worked like he was on autopilot when he finished with the bar he walked up the stairs and started building the second floor.

He worked with amazing speed. He finished building the upstairs in a few hours. He was carrying tables up to the second floor when Mira walked in with a gasp. "Gajeel-kun did you do all this?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep." He said in a harsh voice hoping that she would pick up that he didn't want to talk anymore about it.

Thankfully she did because the next thing that she said was a simple "thank you Gajeel-kun."

Master Makarov walked in at that moment and smiled at them both. He stared at Gajeel for a moment before saying, "Gajeel can I see you in my office for a minute?"

Gajeel looked at the small man and nodded. "Let me just put this table upstairs," he said, to which Makarov nodded with a serious expression on his face. When he was done he walked to the master's office. He stepped inside and closed the door.

When he did Makarov moved his hands in a pattern and the walls of the office glowed along with the doors and windows. Gajeel gave a questioning look to Makarov who looked at him seriously before saying, "I don't want anybody hearing this."

Gajeel nodded. "What do you want?" Gajeel asked calmly already making up his mind.

"I have a special mission for you. It will be very danger-"

"I'll do it." Gajeel said cutting of the old master.

"You don't even know what it is." The master said after giving Gajeel a strange look.

"No but I do know that you wouldn't ask somebody like me to do it unless they were the only ones that could." Gajeel stated.

"Well I won't let you accept until you know all the details." Makarov said sternly. Gajeel waved his hand, it didn't matter what the details were he would do this mission for Makarov. "My son Iwan has recently created a guild that he is calling 'Raven Tail' right now it is not a problem, but in time it could be. The council has forbidden me from going to war with them. So-"

"So you want to send a spy into his guild. You need somebody who would have a reason to hate Fairy Tail, but is still loyal to it." Gajeel said, "Well I have to admit I am perfect for this. I'll do it."

"No," Makarov said firmly. "First you must understand that I did not ask you to join the guild because of this mission."

"I don't care if you did I'll go on this mission because of what I did."

"Stop right there!" Makarov shouted growing in size till he was about to hit his head on the ceiling. Gajeel flinched but not much more. "This is not how Fairy Tail works. You will not gain redemption by being reckless. You will gain it by being one of our nakama, one of our family. If you try to do this mission for a stupid reason like that I will not allow you to."

Gajeel looked down. "I understand. I didn't agree to do this because I was looking for a short cut to redemption." Gajeel looked back up. "I took it because you gave me this chance, and because I am the only one in this guild that could pull this off and you know it."

Makarov shrunk down to his original size and sighed. "I know, but I hate putting any of my children in harm's way."

Gajeel smiled this was the first time someone had thought of him this way since Metalicana… traitor. Makarov noticed his smile and let out his own.

"Iwan has been seen in the town of Hargeon just south of here." Makarov said.

"So I go there and let him recruit me?"

"Yes and then you tell him that I offered to let you join Fairy Tail, and maybe he will take the bait and he'll ask you to work as a spy for him. If he doesn't take the bait we'll have to figure something out."

Gajeel thought about the plan for a second. It was really risky but it might work. "I'll leave immediately."

Makarov nodded slowly. "Very well," He said as he walked toward the door. "And Gajeel be careful. You are one of our nakama now if anything happens tell us and we will go to war." Gajeel scoffed. "Even if you don't believe it you have already made a good impression on a quite a few of them. Just remember even though we have our spats we take care of our own."

Gajeel nodded. He was touched by Makarov's words but he wasn't going to show it. He walked out of the door and into the guild hall. Mira was busy cleaning the bar before the day started. She looked up at Gajeel and gave him a huge smile. "Ah Gajeel-kun I still haven't given you your guild seal, come here."

"Not just yet Mira." Makarov said climbing onto the bar and leaning against a pole.

"Master if Gajeel is part of the guild he needs his seal. He is a nakama now and he should be treated as one." She scolded.

"It's okay Mira," Gajeel soothed, "I have something to do first but I'll let you give it to me as soon as I get back."

"Okay." She said noticing the promise in his voice. "As soon as you get back… and be careful Gajeel. Come back to us in one piece."

"I'll try," he said. Makarov shot him a glance as he walked out.

"Master you have some explaining to do." Gajeel heard Mira said as he shut the door. Cana was walking up to the guild and waved to Gajeel. He waved back and turned to the train station with a smile on his face.

**I told myself that I wouldn't do this but here I am asking for you to review. So yeah, please.**


	4. Chapter 4 Searching for Ravens

buttercups 7273:Props to my first reviewer.

Streetzdanzer: Yes. It's coming up soon. Just getting a good back story going. Technically in the manga Gajeel hasn't even shown up yet.

89niners-best-team-ever: Don't worry I am not completely sold on any ship involving Natsu or Lucy. I put that because when Lisanna comes into the picture Gajeel notices how he acts differently around her. It's also very minor until much later.

Chapter 4

Searching for Ravens.

Levy yawned as she walked toward the guild the next morning. She had tossed and turned all night, because of her conversation with Cana. When she finally had fallen asleep she had dreamed about him. She had dreamed about what it would be like to be wrapped in his arms falling asleep, or being in the guild eating lunch sitting next to him as he put an arm on her shoulder and pulled her close. She also dreamed of him in her apartment with his shirt off as she ran her hands over his muscles. He had then leaned over her pushing her down into her bed as he covered her mouth with his.

Levy had woken up at this point with her heart pounding. She had decided to go to the guild an hour later after failing to go back to sleep. So here she was walking to the guild about an hour before everyone else got there, she figured that she would help Mira get ready for the day. As she got close to the guild she was pulled out of her thoughts by Cana yelling at someone. Levy rounded the corner and barely suppressed a gasp.

She dove back around the corner hoping he hadn't seen her. She pressed her back hard against the wall that surrounded the guild and listened to the conversation around the corner.

"Where are you off to this early, Gajeel?" Cana was saying to the mage that had haunted Levy's dreams.

"On a mission, I have bills to pay." The surly mage replied.

"What about rebuilding the guild it will get finished quick with you around. You are a human hammer after all." The card mage said lightly.

"Yeah well, I think you guys will finish today without me." Gajeel called his voice getting further away with each word. Levy decided to risk it and peeked around the corner.

Cana had her back to Levy looking toward the retreating form of the iron dragon slayer. He had his hand up in farewell. Levy stared at his form as he walked down the road. She stared at him noticing things she never had before; the way that his long mane of hair shifted slightly in the wind, his long confident stride, and the way that the muscles in his arm rippled as he moved.

'Stop it now' she told herself as she kept staring at the retreating mage until Cana's face appeared an inch from her own. Levy let out a small shriek at the sudden appearance of the other mage. Cana just smiled and playful stared at Levy before asking "Were you just staring at Gajeel?"

"No." Levy said as she pushed past Cana and began walking toward the guild.

"You like him don't you," the meddlesome girl pressed.

"No I don't!" Levy said louder as she sped up her pace.

"Oh magic!" Cana exclaimed with a shriek, "You do!"

"Nooooo!" Levy whined as she ran into the guild.

As she ran into the guild she saw something that made her stopped dead in her tracks causing the mage that was chasing her to run into her. "Oh my!" she heard Cana gasp behind her. The inside of the guild was almost done. The entire second floor was finished all that was left was to put up a few walls to close off the bathrooms on the first floor and that wouldn't even take an hour. Mira was standing behind the bar talking to master Makarov. Both of them had a huge smile on their faces.

"I know right!" Mirajane said excitedly. "Gajeel did it last night."

"Gajeel did this last night?" Cana asked. "How did he do this in one night?"

Mira shrugged, "he said he couldn't sleep."

Master Makarov brought down the mug he had been drinking from and said, "Let's keep this between us though. I don't think Gajeel would want people to know that he did this. He's not exactly the most personable person in the guild. He prefers to work in the shadows and stay out of the limelight."

"Why?" Levy asked. "He did the work he should get the credit."

"He wouldn't want it." Makarov said with a shrug and Levy knew the conversation was over.

Levy walked over to the bar and took a seat near the spot where Makarov was sitting. Mira was wiping down the bar while humming a upbeat song. "Is there anything I can do to help Mira-san?" Levy asked the humming mage.

Mira stopped what she was doing and thought for a second looking around the guild. "Sure if you could-"

"Actually I need to talk to you in my office Levy." Makarov interrupted.

Levy was taken aback. She had no idea why the master would want to talk to her alone. She nodded to the small man and followed him into his office.

He walked to the other side of the room and sat behind the desk and indicated the chair opposite of him. Levi walked over and sat down waiting patiently for the master to begin speaking. "How do you feel about Gajeel?" He asked after some thought.

Levy was tired of answering these questions. "He's fine." She said simply not wanting to go into much detail.

Makarov nodded slowly before continuing. "And how do you feel about him joining Fairy Tail?"

Levy thought about that how did she feel about him joining her guild? If she were honest with herself she would say she was happy, but as usual she did not understand why she felt that way. She just sat there in silence for a while trying to sort out her feelings. When she couldn't she looked at Makarov and spoke choosing her words very carefully. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it… but I trust your judgment master. You must see something the rest of us don't."

Makarov took her words into consideration before nodding. He sat there for another minute before asking, "And what about when he attacked you?"

Levy knew how she felt about that, but she was worried that if people knew about that they would only think she was crazy. She also knew that if she were to share what she saw that night with anybody it would only be Gajeel. She decided to just give master the short answer, "I've forgiven him."

Makarov stared at Levy with piercing eyes, as if trying to dig inside of her mind to find her reasoning. Levy wanted to look away from the gaze but she was determined to prove that she was telling the truth. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath before a large grin spread across his face. "That is very kind and mature of you Levy." His tone of voice told Levy that he knew that she wasn't telling the whole truth, but he wasn't going to pry.

"Now why don't you head back to the hall I am sure that Mira is anxious for the help you offered." He said warmly as he spun in his chair to look out the windows behind his desk. Levy got up and walked to the door she heard him speak to himself, "looks like it will rain in Hargeon today."

It was raining hard as Gajeel walked into the bar that Iwan had been last seen in. Gajeel looked around and did not see the man. 'Great, another checkpoint before the finish.' Gajeel thought sarcastically to himself. He didn't mind gathering information, but if he were to find any info on Iwan he couldn't appear that he was. He needed to set himself up so that it looked to Iwan that he found Gajeel himself not the other way around, which is hard to do when you are tracking someone. He walked his way over to the far corner of the bar so that he could keep his eye on the door incase Iwan returned while he was there.

As soon as he sat down the portly bartender walked over to him. "Welcome to the Flying Sturgeon." The man said like he has to say it ten thousand times a day. "What can I get you?"

It was lunch time and Gajeel was feeling kind of hungry so he asked the obvious question, "do you got anything to eat?"

"Anything that can be grilled." The man replied.

"Burger and your best beer then." Gajeel said flatly. The man walked away then shouted Gajeel's order into the kitchen then busied himself getting the beer. When he was done he slid the mug down the bar into Gajeel's waiting hand. Gajeel took a sip, it was good but the beer at Fairy Tail was better.

Gajeel sat there listening to the conversations around the bar; none of them had anything to do with Iwan. When his food came he started eating, it was better than he thought it would be.

When he was halfway through the burger he heard somebody coming up behind him. "So this is where Gajeel 'Black Steel' Redfox goes when he fails to defeat the Salamander, huh" a voice said snidely behind him. Gajeel recognized the voice, it was the guy from Phantom that had interrupted his meal the day he attacked Fairy Tail. 'This guy never learns' Gajeel thought.

Gajeel didn't even look up from his plate when he spoke. "Do you have a death wish fucker?"

"What are you going to do? Huh? I heard you went crawling to Makarov begging to join- gah!" he was cut off as Gajeel spun around and shot a metal rod into his gut, which was quickly followed by a metal elbow to the nose.

Gajeel put on his maniacal grin; he was having fun, and began to do his signature laugh as he walked closer to the man who was writhing on the ground. "Gihihihi. You think I would join those Fairies?" Gajeel said getting down in the man's face. "No, I am going to destroy those weaklings. But next time I will have a strong guild behind me. Not pieces of shit like you."

Gajeel accented his speech by spitting on the man whose eyes were as wide as plates. Gajeel was sure he was about to piss himself. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry." The terrified man stuttered.

Gajeel cocked his head back and laughed. "It's too late for that." He said as he grabbed the man by the throat. Gajeel lifted him up and threw him across the bar and spat metal bindings at him. When it was over the man was hanging from the wall ten feet up by the neck and arms. It wouldn't kill him but it would be very painful and make it hard to breath for however long he was up there; which could be hours.

Gajeel smiled at his handy work until heard clapping coming from the upper floor. He lifted his head and saw the man he had come to find slowly moving his hands together. Gajeel slowly turned so that he was facing the man as he slowly came down the stairs still clapping his hands together. "Well… well… well. Food and a show. You sure know how to have a good time don't you Mr. Redfox." He said as he slowly walked to Gajeel never taking his eyes off of the dragon slayer.

"Who the fuck are you?" Gajeel said.

The man sneered at the question. "My name is Iwan Dreyer and I have a deal for you."

"I'm not interested." Gajeel said he turned and walked away. It was risky but it had to be done.

"I can help you destroy Fairy Tail." The man said taking the bait.

Gajeel stopped in his tracks and spun around slowly. "And how are you going to do that?"

"Not here come with me up to the balcony and we will discuss it." Iwan said spinning on his heel and walking quickly up the stairs. He thought he was in control and Gajeel was going to let him.

Gajeel followed him upstairs. When he got there he saw that the balcony was empty except for himself and Iwan. Iwan was sitting on a lush couch and when he saw Gajeel he indicated the one across from him for Gajeel to sit in. Gajeel walked over and sat down slowly checking for any kind of trap.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Iwan asked quickly not wasting anytime.

"I am an independent mage, from a guild that was just disbanded for breaking the law of no combat between guilds. I caused the war almost single handedly." Gajeel said calmly, it was the truth except being independent. "I imagine the Council is watching me waiting for me to do something like that so that they can lock me away."

"That is probably true," Iwan consented. "Not only are you strong but you are smart too. You don't go around doing reckless things. You know how to keep your head down. I could use a man like you."

Gajeel growled, "Just tell me what the fuck you want or I'll leave."

"Direct I like that," Iwan chuckled, "is what that fool you nailed to the wall said true?"

"That I work for Fairy Tail? Hell no." Gajeel chuckled. "Makarov did ask me to join and told me think about it but I have no intention in going. I will destroy that guild and everyone in it."

"I can help you do that." The older mage said seriously.

"And how could you do that?"

"I am forming a guild, 'Raven Tail', and one of our main goals is to destroy Fairy Tail." Gajeel smiled as Iwan continued. "And you have already provided me with a golden opportunity to do just that."

"How?" Gajeel asked this was not expected he thought he was just going to join the guild.

"By becoming my spy inside of Fairy Tail." Iwan said. Gajeel couldn't hide his surprise. "You have said that Makarov asked you to join his guild. I want you to take him up on his offer and learn all you can about his mages abilities and weaknesses. Then I want you to report all the information to me."

"How do you expect me to do that? They won't exactly accept me with open arms." Gajeel said. It wasn't a ruse; nobody exactly wants to trust him in the guild.

"By doing everything possible so that you can gain their trust."

"What's in it for me?" Gajeel asked, he actually was curious.

"Money, power," Gajeel scoffed, "and the chance to kill any Fairy Tail mage in any way that you want."

"Hmm, that sounds good, but some of them are cute." Gajeel said thinking of the women of the guild especially… 'No I can't go there' he thought. He looked at Iwan who was staring with a questioning expression. "Just killing them would be a waste." Gajeel finished.

Iwan smiled and laughed hard. "Fine I'll let one live to be your pet."

"Two," Gajeel haggled.

Iwan laughed even harder and extended his hand. "Alright, do we have a deal?"

Gajeel smiled and laughed himself. "Yes... yes we do." Gajeel answered as he grasped the other man's hand.

"Good." Iwan said slyly, "now go join the Fairies."

Gajeel nodded and turned around leaving the cackling man there. It had worked better than Gajeel had suspected but he would have to be careful. Gajeel knew he would die painfully if Iwan ever found out.

As he walked out the door he saw the man that he had hung to the wall. There were some people trying to help him down but Gajeel still sent up a punch for good measure as he stepped out into the rain.

**All right I know this is shorter than my last chapter but I thought this was a great place to end it. Next chapter will take place during the Fighting Festival Arc. Not sure if it will take one chapter or two.**

**Review, please I would like to know what you guys think.**


	5. Chapter 5 Appeasing the Fairies

**Neko-Tiara: I am glad that I can be your drug.**

**Everybody. Don't get too used to this update rate it won't stay like this for long with finals coming up and an out of state internship not too long after. So yeah. I'll do my best**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter 5

Appeasing the Fairies.

Gajeel reached Magnolia around ten o'clock that night. He walked into town and went straight to an inn to rest; he was tired from his day of traveling, and he couldn't go to his apartment in case he was being watched. He found an inn by a place called Fairy Hills, and rented a room. He would talk to Makarov early tomorrow morning. He showered and went straight to bed after setting his alarm.

Levy was sitting in her bathtub relaxing. The day had gone on without any major incident; it had actually been a pretty calm day having only one brawl. They had finished building the guild around noon, thanks to all of Gajeel's work the night before. Nobody had figured out that it had been Gajeel who had worked during the night. Most didn't even notice that the entire second floor had been finished overnight. Most of them just figured that they were further along than they had thought. Levy smiled at her guild mates oblivious tendencies. When they had finished they had partied late into the night. Levy had left early so that she could get some much needed sleep due to her rough night before.

Everybody had worked so hard on getting the guild finished that when they had finished everybody went crazy. Everybody, that is, except Gajeel. He was gone on a mission and when Levy had asked Mira about it the take-over mage had said that she didn't know. That had shocked Levy to no end; Mirajane was the one who handled all the mission details, before anyone left they had to check in with her so that she could write it in the guild's record book. After hitting the dead end with Mira, Levy had asked Master Makarov and he had just brushed her off saying that he had asked Gajeel to take an urgent message to one of his friends in Hargeon.

Levy got out of the tub and toweled off while she thought about how the rest of the guild thought about their new mages from Phantom Lord. Juvia was fitting in nicely; everyone seemed to accept her pretty quickly. Gajeel was a different story. Mirajane and Cana seemed to like him enough, but Mira likes everybody in the guild, and Cana had worked with him all day yesterday. When Levy had asked Cana about him the older mage had told her (after teasing Levy about liking the iron mage for a while) that she didn't completely trust Gajeel yet; but she was willing to give him a chance. Cana had also said that she could see there being a good guy underneath his asshole exterior. At that point in the conversation Jet and Droy had decided to come up and express their opinions about Gajeel.

Levy crawled into bed as she remembered what her teammates had said about Gajeel. Most of it was saying how much better off the guild was without Gajeel. Eventually they had started talking about what they were going to do to Gajeel, which worried Levy. Jet and Droy never acted like this they were her best friends and listening to the way that they were talking about getting rid of Gajeel scared her. Jet had especially scared her with what he had said; it was so unusual for the normally smiling speed demon to be so violent, even in the words he said, and he spoke about doing some pretty brutal things.

Elfman had walked up to them during their rant and had scolded the two about how Gajeel was part of the guild now and that as men they should not wish ill for their fellow guild members. And that was when the brawl started. Jet had thrown the first punch and eventually everybody had jumped in because they were oblivious to the harsh context that the fight had started over. Levy was scared about Jet he was usually such a sweet guy, and know… Levy didn't want to think about it.

"What is wrong with you Jet?" Levy asked her room as she fell asleep.

_Levy's head hurt. She felt a cold wind on her body and a deep pressure in her abdomen. She felt a heat crushing against her body. She heard a grunting noise right above her. She tried to move her hands to massage her temples but she couldn't. She panicked then and opened her eyes, and the sight that greeted her made her scream out in horror._

"_So your finally awake, huh, Fairy?" Gajeel said with a smirk. He was two inches away from her face, his was covered in sweat. Levy looked down and saw his chest up against hers, she let out another scream; she was naked. She looked back up to Gajeel questioningly. "Gihihi, does it feel good?" He asked sarcasm dripping from his voice. And just like that the entire world went out of focus when the realization of what was happening hit her. Gajeel was raping her. _

_She began to cry. With the realization of what was happening to her, her senses went on overdrive. She could feel the cool metal bindings on her wrists and arms as they bit into her flesh. She could feel the rough bark on her back scratching her as her body was moved. Worst of all she could feel everything that happened as the man in front of her thrust into her. The pain as he took what he wanted from her, including her virginity. She felt the pain of every thrust as his huge rod slammed all the way into her. He was too big, he was tearing her apart. Thanks to her increased awareness she felt every ounce of pain tenfold, and she was repulsed to realize… the pleasure. _

_She started crying harder as she realized that she was receiving pleasure from this. She tried to fight it but the more she fought it the more she felt it. She shuddered as she failed to suppress a moan. The demon in front of her through his head back and laughed louder. When he stopped laughing he looked down at his prey and shouted "you really are enjoying this aren't you slut! Gihihihihihihi!"_

"_Levy!" a shout came from her side and she saw Jet struggling with his bonds as he stared at her, worry written all over his face. "You bastard leave her alone!" Jet continued to yell. _

"_Shut up!" Gajeel said as he turned his hand into a knife. "You're ruining my fun." Levy let out a scream as she saw a flash. Gajeel had slit Jet's throat, the wound was so deep Levy was surprised his head did not fall of his shoulders._

"_Jet! Levy!" Came a shout from the other side._

"_No, please don't!" Levy shouted as Gajeel slit Droy's throat also. "Droy!" _

_She felt the pace of Gajeel's thrusting increase. She heard him grunt and a warmth spill into her womb as he came inside her. She felt so dirty. She looked into the red eyes of her captor. "Kill me." She begged the man. A big smile crawled onto his face._

"_Gladly" he said as Levy saw a flash._

Levy awoke screaming into her empty room. She looked around in a daze her hands flying across her body checking for any wounds. When her hands came to her neck she began to cry. "It was only a dream." She told herself over and over again trying to calm herself. 'Right?' She thought. "Yes!" she said loudly to herself, "it was only a dream."

"Levy!" Came a voice from outside. She tried to get out of her bed to let the voice in when the door flew open, and the light came on. Levy was blinded by the sudden change in lighting. "I heard you all the way from my place are you okay?" the voice asked dripping with concern. Levy blinked forcing her eyes to adjust to the light.

"Stay away!" She shouted at the person in her room. She covered her head with her blanket. "Leave me alone you monster!"

"Levy?" the voice questioned, hurt by her sudden outburst. She felt a soft tugging on the sheets. "Tell me what happened." Came the voice again with a hurt, begging tone. Levy let the blanket go and was met by Gajeel's soft red eyes. He reached forward but she flinched away from the attempted contact. His hand hung their limp for a second before he brought it back to his chest. He looked at her with eyes that were overflowing with concern. He got off the bed and backed up to the wall and slid down it placing his hands on his knees so that Levy could still see them.

He was going to give her space until she was ready to tell him. They sat there for half an hour. Gajeel never took his eyes off of her, but he never made a noise, Levy couldn't even hear him breath. Levy didn't look at him the entire time; she couldn't. When she finally gathered the nerve she looked at his eyes that were still filled with worry.

"You raped me." She said so softly he wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't a dragon slayer.

His entire body paled. He stared at her in horror. "No." he said forcefully trying to convince her. "I would never do that Levy." He leaned forward and grabbed her hand, when she flinched he dropped it like she had shocked him. "You know that." He said softly.

She looked at his eyes, they were pleading with her to believe his words. She looked at him heard his entire body begged her to believe that he would never do that. "But it was so real." She said tears forming in her eyes. Gajeel moved slowly onto the bed, watching to see if she would pull away. When she didn't he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly into his chest. She lost it then, she began sobbing as he pulled her closer and rocked her back and forth while he shushed her and whispered soft reassurances to her.

"You attacked me." She cried when she could at least form words again.

"Yes." He answered softly. She looked up at him still crying, he had tears in his eyes too. From the memory or from his worry for the mage in his arms Levy didn't know. "I did." He repeated pulling her in tighter. "But it was the biggest mistake of my life. I can't change it, but I wish I could. I curse myself every day for ever doing that to you." He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You are my world." He told the mage in his arms as he pulled her into a soft kiss that expressed everything that he couldn't say.

Their lips separated slowly. "Stay with me." She told the dragon slayer as she placed her hand on his cheek.

"Always," He answered as he leaned forward to kiss her. They laid down together and she fell asleep in his arms.

Levy woke up the next morning and looked over to the other side of the bed. It was empty she looked around the room and saw no sign of Gajeel. "Was that a dream too?" she asked herself as she hugged her legs already knowing the answer. "Lu-chan, hurry back I need to talk to you about this. I'm so confused."

Gajeel woke up early that morning to get to the guild before anyone else. When he got there he found a completed guild with a few members sleeping on the tables and floor. They must have partied. He saw Makarov on the other side of a mass of bodies. Gajeel spit a nut into his hand and flicked it at Makarov who was asleep on his spot on the bar. The old man stirred drowsily and picked up the nut that had landed next to him. He studied it and realized its' meaning quickly he looked at the door and Gajeel stepped out of the shadows with his finger over his lips. He needed to stay unnoticed until Makarov decided how to handle this new situation.

Master Makarov nodded, understanding what Gajeel's intentions. 'Office' he mouthed to the young dragon slayer as he hopped down from his spot and walked quietly to the separate room.

Gajeel slipped back outside and snuck around to Makarov's office. When he got there Makarov opened a window and Gajeel slipped through it. As Makarov shut the window the walls began to glow showing that the room was sealed from all eavesdropping.

"What are you doing here Gajeel? Did you not find Iwan?" the old man asked.

"Do you doubt me?" Gajeel asked teasing the old man. That was new Fairy Tail was already rubbing off on him.

"No," Makarov said calming himself down. "Did he not try to recruit you?"

"Oh no. He recruited me but we may have a problem." Gajeel said calmly.

"Is he suspicious?" Makarov asked warily.

"I don't think so, he asked me to become his spy inside of Fairy Tail." Gajeel told the Master.

Makarov had a huge grin spread across his face. "Well I fail to see how that is a prob-… Oh!" The master said as his smiled disappeared; understanding coming to him as Gajeel just stood there nodding.

"What did he ask for?" Makarov asked.

"The usual; the abilities of your mages, and their weaknesses." Gajeel explained while Makarov nodded. "How do you want to handle this? He told me to come and join Fairy Tail. I could act like you wouldn't allow me in, because the others were against it."

"No!" Makarov shouted quickly, squashing any other plan that Gajeel was about to suggest. "You are a mage of Fairy Tail and you will be recognized as such."

Gajeel just stared at the man. "That's too risky. If I were to act like his spy I would have to betray everyone in the guild by giving him information on them and placing their life at risk. I won't risk their lives like that. That was the old me."

Gajeel had been pacing around the room as he shouted his refusal at the small master. He turned to look at the mage. He saw a look on the old man's face that he couldn't place at first; it was pride. Gajeel turned away he couldn't stand the look of praise that he was getting from the master; he didn't deserve it.

"Look at how much you have changed in just a few days." The master said, his voice dripping with pride.

"It's only because of you." Gajeel told the older mage still refusing to look at him.

"No," Makarov said placing a hand on the struggling mage's shoulder. "It has all been you."

"I never would have if you hadn't given me the chance." Gajeel said turning to look at the master who was just waving his hand in front of his face, brushing away the comment.

"You will have to be a spy for my son." Gajeel started to protest but Makarov held up a hand. "It is a test. Iwan knows I would never turn away someone who asked for help. And as for the information, you will give him a bare minimum that you can. It will have to be accurate, but we have an advantage." Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow. "We can play the distrust card. Sadly the guild will keep you at arm's length for a while; but that can help your cause. However, you are not off the hook. You still have to try to gain their trust for real."

Gajeel nodded, "so this is how we are going to play it."

"Yes, you are a Fairy Tail mage now. So you just need to be yourself." The Master said as he opened the door for Gajeel.

"Thank you… master." Gajeel said as he walked out of the door, he stopped halfway through the door, "oh and about me being myself you might get a report about me attacking someone in a bar, but I want you to know it was mostly to keep my cover." Gajeel said he looked over his shoulder at the mage whose face was falling quickly.

"And the rest of it?" he asked cautiously

Gajeel took off down the hall. "For fun!" He shouted over his shoulder.

"Gajeel! Makarov shouted after the retreating mage. "He's going to fit in just fine." Makarov chuckled to himself.

As Gajeel entered the main hall of the guild he was ambushed by Mirajane. "Ah Gajeel-kun you're back." Mira said with a smile on her face that quickly became a pout.

Gajeel looked at her in confusion. 'What is she mad about?' Gajeel wondered. 'Although she does look cute like that.'

"You promised that as soon as you came back I could give you your guild seal!" the white haired mage bawled causing Gajeel to backpedal into the wall. Everyone in the guild was starting to wake up. "But you went to go see master first."

"No, no, no, no, no," Gajeel said as he shrank before the mage, she could be terrifying. He was trying to think of a good reason. "I came in to let you give me the seal but you were asleep." That seemed to calm her down a bit, now it was time to add some flattery. "And you looked so cute while you were asleep that I thought it would be a crime to wake you."

Mira blushed at the last bit of the statement. Gajeel heard a silent snicker and he looked around for the source. He saw that it was coming from Cana who locked eyes with him and gave him an approving nod.

Mira pulled a guild stamp out of thin air. "Where do you want it?" she asked Gajeel.

"Right here," he said indicating his left bicep.

"Good choice." Mira said as she stamped his arm and then softly patted the mark. "Now you are officially a part of Fairy Tail." She smiled at him softly and tilted her head to the side.

"Here, here." Cana said from across the hall. Gajeel looked at her and she waved him over. When he got there he sat down across from her. Everybody that had been asleep in the guild slowly filtered out so that they could go home to shower and change. "Have a drink." She said.

"Sure" he said as she handed him a mug. "Cheers."

"Cheers." She repeated clanging her glass against his.

They drank all day. They went through at least two barrels of alcohol a piece. After dinner Gajeel wobbled back to his apartment and collapsed on the floor.

Levy was walking to the guild late that day. After her troubling dreams she had decided to take a long soak in her bathtub to try to figure it out. She had fallen into a dreamless sleep inside of the tub. So now she was walking to the guild after noon and she was still kind of pruned. "Oi levy there you are." Droy called to her as he and Jet came running up. "We have a mission to do."

"What?" Levy asked as her teammates got closer. "Isn't it too late to go on a mission?"

"No." Jet answered. "Its' at one of the farms surrounding Magnolia, we just have to take care of a wild boar problem."

"Well then let's go." Levy said excitedly taking hold of her friends' arms and leading them in the direction of the farm.

The next day Levy met her Jet and Droy at the guild pool. They had decided to meet there the night before. They were just about to play a game of volleyball against Alzack and Bisca when she heard a familiar squeal. "Levy!" the squealing girl exclaimed.

"Hey there Lu-chan!" Levy exclaimed, happy that her friend was back. "How do you like the new guild?"

"I love it! Cana is giving us the tour right now." Lucy told her.

"Great! I'll meet you in the main hall after your tour. Okay?"

"Okay!" Her best girlfriend called back running to catch back up with her team.

Levy turned back to her teammates. "Well I am going to dry off and head inside." She told them.

"We'll come with you!" Jet said.

"It's almost time for Mira's concert anyway." Droy supplied as they climbed out of the pool.

As they walked into the guild they saw that Natsu's team just found out about Gajeel joining the guild. Levy ducked behind a pillar the memory of her dream from two nights ago fresh in her mind. She was terrified of him even more so now than she was before that dream. Now that she thought about it she hadn't even seen Gajeel since she had that dream.

"Now, now…" Master Makarov was saying. "He was only acting on Jose's orders back then; it couldn't be helped. You know what they say – yesterday's enemies are today's friends."

Natsu's group looked at Levy who was still shaking behind the pillar. "uh-huh… I'm n-not bothered at all, really…" Levy stuttered out. 'ugh could I be any less convincing.'

"Come on Levy let's go." Jet said leading Levy away from Gajeel.

~The Next Day~

Gajeel was walking back from the guild in a sour mood. He had just made a complete fool of himself in front of the whole guild, because he had decided to listen to Juvia. 'At least Mira understood why I did it.' Gajeel felt bad for what he had done. He had bound her back stage and stolen her spot and sang a song in front of the entire guild, and a reporter. Gajeel shuddered at what could have happened if Mira wasn't so kind and understanding. He had apologized profusely and she had just patted his cheek and told him "it's fine. At least you are trying to make a good impression." Then her face had gotten harsh as he told him never to do it again. Gajeel felt another shudder run down his spine.

But the worst news had come the night before when Gajeel got back to his apartment he had entered to find a raven sitting on his window sill. It had turned into a note from Iwan telling him to come to Hargeon to give him a report. He got to his apartment and found another red note on his door. 'Meet us in the park.' The note said. Gajeel wiped it off his door reached inside and grabbed his sack that was full of iron and headed to the park that he had been avoiding since he had joined Fairy Tail.

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	6. Chapter 6 Fighting with Fairies

Hello my few readers. I know it has been a long time since my last update and this one is a disappointment and I am sorry, but I just started an internship for the summer that I had to move out of state for. Things are also about to get very hectic for said internship so I don't know when the next update will come.

That being said I need a beta. Not just any beta, oh no, I need the Naziest of Nazi English teacher beta's. I want my writing to improve and I need someone who can help me do that.

I also have been bombarded by ideas for an Avatar the last airbender fic and I am biased but I think it would be good. This idea is currently making it hard to come up with ideas for this story, but I wrote one chapter for the avatar story and it removed the block enough so that I could write this chapter. So I am going to run with it and try to do both stories at once so a beta for both would be appreciated.

Thanks to all my story fav/alert and reviewers you made sure I never stopped trying to think of ideas and actually write, and it is very appreciated. Blocks are tough and you helped me get through.

AngelKnightKaoru: I only put NaLi because this is from Gajeel's pov mostly and he sees how Natsu acts differently around Lis than lucy.

The major reason I am slowing down is because I need to know more about Rogue to continue, since he was Gajeel's apprentice for a time, and I want to work that into the story and see if it changes anything about the OC I will introduce soon.

This is longer than the actual chapter so.

I own nothing.

**Chapter 6**

**Fighting with Fairies**

Gajeel slowly entered the park where he is supposed to meet the guy who had been writing on his door. He had a pretty good idea of who it was and Gajeel knew exactly how to take care of this problem once and for all.

He looked around; the park was actually very nice during the day. There were trees of all different kinds. He looked over and he noticed that while the trees were spaced out and mixed together there were places where there was a small area surrounded by one type of tree. There were large areas that were free of any tree or bush that could be used for different kinds of gatherings. Right now one was occupied by children who were chasing each other around and shouting, playing some game that Gajeel did not know about, which is not hard, he doesn't know many. There was a stone bridge that crossed a narrow stream with paved banks that ran through the park on its man-made path.

All of these things went barely noticed by Gajeel, because he was busy looking for danger. Whoever had been writing on his door obviously didn't like him and Gajeel had been on too many dangerous missions not to suspect an ambush. He stopped and sniffed the air letting his heightened sense of smell take over. He inhaled deeply, almost letting his eyes close. He smelled the grass, the trees and all the usual smells of nature. He smelled all the people in the park, some familiar and some not.

Gajeel walked through the park. As he passed the playing children they stopped their game to watch him go by, the ones that were closest to him backed away; Gajeel didn't even notice, it was a common occurrence. He continued to walk to where he knew they would be waiting.

"What are we doing here guys?" Levy asked her team startling them. Jet and Droy had tried to sneak out of the guild a few minutes ago, but Levy had seen them go. She had followed them all the way inside the park and to the tree that held one of the worst memories of her life.

"Levy!" Jet screamed in surprise. "You need to leave."

His tone worried Levy it was dark and demanding, but instead of being afraid she was upset and pissed. Her teammates were hiding something from her and she did not like it one bit. "You can't tell me what to do Jet!" She screamed at the speed mage, "we are a team, we do everything together, and we don't keep secrets from each other!"

Droy grabbed Jet's shoulder before the other man could argue back, "He's here," he said in a dark voice laced with malice. Jet stiffened up even more than he already was and turned toward the entrance to the park.

"Who's here? Guys?" Levy asked her teammates as she turned to look toward the entrance. When she saw who they meant she let out a small squeak and ran behind the tree.

Gajeel was coming towards them with his smirk in place. It was not the same smirk that Levy had seen the last time they were here, in this very spot. Levy began to have the memories of that night bombard her mind, Gajeel attacking Jet and Droy and knocking them out like they were nothing. His sinister laugh as he attacked them. Him binding her and her teammates to the very tree that she was currently hiding behind. Him raping her as she was bound helpless to the tree while he killed her teammates.

Levy shook her head. 'No that was a dream,' she told herself, 'that part didn't happen.'

_But it could have._ A small voice told her. Levy shivered at the thought of what could have easily have happened.

"Why did you guys call me here?" Gajeel's deep voice asked her teammates. At the sound of his voice Levy was pulled out of her thoughts. Jet and Droy told him to come here that didn't make any sense. "I've got a job to do," Gajeel finished sounding bored and impatient. Levy wondered how long they had been there while she was wrapped up in her own thoughts.

"Job?" Jet spat. Levy couldn't see them from her spot behind the tree, but she could imagine the look that Jet was giving Gajeel. "This coming from the guy who destroyed the Guild?"

"You can go to any other guild to take missions!" Droy said scathingly, "have you no shame?"

Gajeel began to chuckle at what they had said. Levy began to slowly work her way around the tree to look at the three men. "You guys really hold a grudge." Gajeel said in-between chuckles, "Can't just let bygones be bygones… huh."

Levy poked her head around the tree and saw the three men standing there. At Gajeel's last words Jet and Droy clenched their fists and looked as if they were going to attack Gajeel. Levy didn't know what to do. She knew that if Jet and Droy were to attack Gajeel they would only get hurt. Gajeel was a very strong mage who had a lot of experience fighting while her teammates had less and would make mistakes because they were letting their emotions control them.

"Jet, Droy, don't… " Levy said as she tried to diffuse the situation from behind the tree, "I'm over that, really"

'Gah!' She shouted at herself in her head, 'I don't think that could have been any less believable.' An image of her and her teammates bolted to the tree came into her mind and she shivered.

"This is our limit." Jet told Gajeel.

"Your ruining the guild's reputation." Droy added.

Gajeel only scoffed at their words. Levy knew that at that point nothing she did could stop what was about to happen. She looked at her teammates and saw that both of them were shaking in anger.

"You won't act so casual for long!" Jet shouted.

Levy gasped as her teammate used his magic to launch himself at Gajeel. With his magic Jet closed the distance between him and Gajeel quickly. He threw a punch that Levy was sure Gajeel would dodge but he wasn't able to. Levy stared at the sight. That didn't make sense, she didn't know much about Gajeel but she knew he had better reflexes than that.

She didn't have much time to think about that as Droy was busy scattering some of his seeds for his magic. The seeds quickly began to take the shape of dozens of fists and with the flow of magic from Droy they began to attack Gajeel. Levy gasped Gajeel had had plenty of time to dodge the attacks but he had just stood there and took them. Was he dazed from Jet's eairlier punch? It hadn't looked that hard to Levy, but maybe Jet was stronger than she thought.

As the plants continued to assault Gajeel , a fist that was larger than the others came up from ground and connected with Gajeel's jaw. The punch sent Gajeel flying backward where Jet was waiting. Jet used his speed and jumped at the last second extending a kick that buried it's way into Gajeel's side causing the iron dragon slayer to bend around the kick. As Jet retracted his kick Gajeel flew another twenty feet skidding across the ground.

"Hey… what are you up to?" Jet asked the dragon slayer. Levy realized that Jet knew that there was something wrong with the way that Gajeel was acting also.

"That can't be it for your power." Droy taunted Gajeel.

Gajeel started to pick himself up from the ground. He turned his head to the ground as he pushed and Levy saw his mouth pick up in a quick smirk.

Before she could think about the strange action her thoughts were cut off by a deep condescending voice. "You being picked on? Huh?"

Levy gasped, it couldn't be. He hadn't been back to the guild in such a long time, surely he wouldn't show up now. Levy looked toward where the voice had come from. Sure enough there he was, standing there in his usual fur coat with his headphones firmly in place around his ears, and a scowl on his face. Master Makarov's temperamental grandson.

"Laxus?" Droy said. From the sound of his voice Levy could tell that he couldn't believe it either. Laxus hardly ever came back to Mongolia.

"So…" Laxus said with a sneer, "this guy is the punk that turned my guild into a mess." Laxus slowly made his way over to Gajeel who was still picking himself up off the ground. "Amd that old fart, he let you join us for some lame reason?" Levy cringed at the anger in the lightning mage's voice, "It's because of this that we're looked down upon. Damn it!"

Laxus lifted one hand to the sky, and brought it down swiftly. With it came a large bolt of lightning from the clear blue sky. The bolt hit Gajeel who only let out a grunt. The air around the park crackled with electricity, and Levy knew that if that bolt had hit one of her teammates they would be dead right now. The whole of team Shadow Gear looked at the scene in shock. Jet and Droy had only wanted to send a message to Gajeel, not kill him, while Levy cringed at the pain she imagined Gajeel felt.

"It's all your fault." Laxus snarled out from his clenched jaw, as he threw a large ball of lightning at the recovering iron mage. As the lightning attack hit him Gajeel let out another grunt of pain.

"St-stop! Laxus! You're going too far!" Jet screamed at the older mage.

Levy had unconsciously made her way around the tree when Gajeel had been hit by Laxus' second attack. She stared at the scene in front of her in horror. Gajeel was covered with bruises and scorch marks from both beatings he had taken. Levy couldn't understand why he had been injured so badly, he hadn't even landed a single blow on Jet or Droy, and now he was just taking such brutal attacks from Laxus without fighting back.

Levy gasped and covered her mouth with her hands when she realized what had been going on since Gajeel had come to the park.

"It doesn't matter how strong Laxus is… he should be able to fight back." Droy said, his mind running parallel to Levy's.

"Could it be that Gajeel was, from the start…" Jet began not being able to finish because of the sheer absurdity of the though.

"He wanted us to recognize him as a nakama so he didn't fight back?" Levy finished for her teammate. Just by saying outlook Levy knew that that is exactly what Gajeel had done, and was still doing.

Gajeel was lying face down on the ground as Laxus ran up and began to kick him and stop on him. "It's all your fault we're being made fun of!" Laxus shouted as he kicked the dragon slayer. "Why don't you just die? I'll kill anyone who goes against Fairy Tail!"

"Stop!" Jet shouted at the irate mage in a worried voice. "That's enough Laxus!" Even though he was angry at Gajeel for what he had done he didn't deserve to die for it, and he knew that Laxus would kill him if he wasn't stopped.

"Shaddap!" Laxus shouted as he quickly spun around, "Little riff-raff should be quiet!" He shot a bolt toward the other mages.

Time seemed to slow down as the lightning blast came toward them. Levy watched as the bolt made its way past her teammates and came straight at her. She put her arms up in front her herself trying to defend herself against the attack, even though she knew it wouldn't work. She vaguely one of her teammates shout her name as she let out her own scream and closed her eyes hoping that her death would be quick.

As the seconds slowly ticked by Levy realized that she didn't feel any pain. She slowly opened her eyes and she was greeted by the sight of a mane of dark black hair. She lowered her arms and gasped when she realized what she saw. "Gajeel?"

She heard a low growl as the iron dragon slayer stared down the lightning mage who looked back with a bored expression.

"He protected Levy," Droy asked aghast.

"You…" Jet began.

But Levy heard none of this as she stared at the smoking back of the man who had just saved her life. As she stared Gajeel slowly began to stagger away from her. He couldn't walk straight because of the pain and he slowly moved side to side as he moved.

"Is that enough?" Gajeel asked no one in particular since they were all to shocked to answer. "I've got work to do."

"That, that…" Levy began trying to figure out something, anything to say to the retreating form of the man who had saved her.

"Don't worry about me." Gajeel said as he cut her off, never turning back to look at any of them.

Laxus turned around and walked out of the park while Jet and Droy stared at him; angry that he had taken it too far. With a sigh they both looked at the ground as they felt regret at what had transpired. But as before Levy didn't notice any of this as she stared after Gajeel.

Let the Reviews and hatred commence


	7. Chapter 7 Meeting the Raven's Shadow

Hey I know it's been a long time but, lot of stuff been going on. I've been struggling on this chapter for a month now. Not great quality but it's slowly leading up to what I have planned. I've decided to follow the main plot until the tournament. I'll be honest not happy with the way Raven Tail happened. I get the feeling that we haven't seen the last of them. But with it Gajeel's role as a spy is probably finished so I will be changing that when I get there. I will skip over most of what happens in the manga. Right now no plan for edolas. My Avatar tla fic is up if any of you haven't read it and you like avatar I would suggest it, but I'm biased.

I might revise this chapter sometime.

Fairy Tail and all its characters and plots are owned by Hiro Mashima

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**Chapter 7**

**Meeting the Raven's Shadow.**

Gajeel sat on the train to Hargeon for the second time that week to go and meet with the master of Raven Tail. This time however he was going to tell Ivan exactly what he wanted to hear. That Gajeel was a mage of Fairy Tail.

Gajeel was confident that Ivan would welcome him into Raven Tail with open arms. After all he was a anti-Fairy Tail guild's dream, a strong, sadistic monster that has a personal grudge against the guild. Ivan would be a fool to pass up the chance to recruit a mage like Gajeel.

The train curved around a hill, causing Gajeel to wince as one of his wounds pressed against the window. The wounds weren't too severe and would be healed in about a day, but they still hurt damn it. What was that lightning bastard's problem anyway? He didn't take part in the war and it didn't seem like he had any loyalty to the guild, the way he had just attacked the shorty like that.

Gajeel's thoughts turned to the little solid script mage. While her buddies had been attacking him, if you could even call it that, she had been trying to get them to stop, even if she was hiding behind a tree in fear. The whole time she had been screaming at them to stop and saying that she had forgiven Gajeel for what he had done. There he was letting her teammates (try to) beat him up and she was trying to stop them? The little bluenette made no sense. Then the big guy showed up.

Laxus they had called him. Gajeel thought back to the war between his old guild and Fairy Tail and couldn't remember seeing the blond mage during the fight. It was probably a good thing to probably would have killed him.

Gajeel sighed which caused the wound on his chest to throb. It was by far the worst of his injuries. It hurt like hell and probably will take several days to heal. He couldn't even remember moving. He just jumped in front of the bolt that would surely have killed Levy. Why had he jumped in front of the bolt?

Gajeel walked into the Flying Sturgeon again for his meeting with Ivan. He walked straight toward the stairs leading to the balcony, ignoring the look that the bartender sent his way. When he reached the second floor he saw that Ivan was sitting in the same place that he had previously sat in.

"Ah, Gajeel-kun! You're back soon. Did you join the Fairies?" Ivan questioned the dragon slayer. Gajeel bristled at the familiar manner that Ivan spoke to him in. it reminded Gajeel of his former master Jose.

Instead of answering the question Gajeel simply showed Ivan his Fairy Tail guild symbol.

"So the Fairies let you into their guild. I see that some of them weren't too happy with you joining Fairy Tail." Ivan said with a laugh. "Who did that to you?"

"Your son," Gajeel said simply.

"Oh ho ho, so what did my father say when you asked him to join his guild?"

"Actually he found me when I entered Magnolia, and offered me a place in the guild." Gajeel answered.

"Now why would he do that?" Ivan said suspiciously.

Gajeel thought about his next answer and decided that the truth would be best. "One of my former guild mates joined his guild and asked him to let me join too."

"Oh ho ho, So Gajeel-kun actually does have friends." Ivan said condescendingly. "So now that you've joined me I want you to go with one of your fellow guild mates so that he can test your strength."

Gajeel was pissed who dared to question his strength. He was the strongest mage in his old guild, and he was pretty confident that he was one of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail. "Who in the hell thinks that they have the right to question my strength?" Gajeel growled.

"I do," said a voice.

Gajeel looked around and could not find the speaker and it pissed him off more. He looked back at Ivan and saw that the man had an amused smirk on his face. Gajeel was about to voice his frustration when Ivan's shadow moved. As Ivan sat perfectly still his shadow began to take a new shape and rose off the ground. 'So,' Gajeel though, 'Ivan found himself a shadow mage.' As the shadow continued to rise, Gajeel could see the mages true form. A slim young man, that couldn't be more than 13. He had a tan complexion, but not as dark as Gajeel himself. The kid was maybe around five foot four, with dark blue eyes, and near shoulder length light brown hair with strands of blonde mixed in.

"Gajeel I would like you to meet Koryn," Ivan said gesturing to the kid.

"He's a child," Gajeel stated.

"I'm a teenager," Koryn said in a scathing tone.

"Why in the hell do you have a child in your guild?" Gajeel asked ignoring the shadow mage.

"I'll kick your ass," Koryn swore as he walked towards Gajeel only to be held back by Ivan.

"Now, now you two play nice," Ivan said in a placating tone. Koryn stopped advancing but still glared at the dragon slayer. "Gajeel, Koryn is one of the first people I recruited to Raven Tail and is one of the most powerful mages in the guild."

Gajeel scoffed, "Doesn't look like much."

"You will be the judge of that yourself soon." Ivan said before Koryn could speak. "You two will be going to train together so that I can find where you both stand in terms of strength."

"Can't," Gajeel said simply.

"Scared?" Koryn asked with a laugh.

"Why not Gajeel-kun?" Ivan asked curiously.

"Because of this Fantasia thing going on in Mangolia this week." Gajeel said with a shrug. "Apparently Fairy Tail takes part in a lot of the stuff and I figure that it would look weird if I didn't go to it after joining the guild."

"Oh so you'd rather go and prance around in a parade than train?" Koryn asked. "I don't really see how you deserved the reputation you had before you got your ass handed to you by some pink haired idiot."

Gajeel growled and lunged at the kid grabbing him by the neck. "Listen here punk. I would much rather be doing something productive, but since I am infiltrating their guild I figure I should do what they ask." Gajeel spat, slamming Koryn into the pillar.

"Temper, temper," a voice said from behind Gajeel. Gajeel turned his head and saw Koryn standing behind his chair. Gajeel looked back to the Koryn in his hand which promptly dissolved into shadow.

"Neat trick, a bit cowardly though." Gajeel said baiting the younger mage.

"Maybe to idiots who don't grasp strategy," Koryn said not taking the bait.

They both turned to Ivan as the guild master clapped like they were just some stage show. "Very good," he said with a demented grin, "animosity is good. It keeps you on your toes."

Gajeel glanced at Ivan and saw the grin on his face; it sent chills down his spine. Was this guy really Makarov's son? He looked over towards Koryn and saw that the young mage had a questioning look on his face. Gajeel wondered if Koryn believed the same as his master.

"Gajeel-kun," Ivan said, "I want you to go to the festival." Koryn snickered. "But as soon as you are done I want you to come back here."

Gajeel grunted an affirmative as Ivan dismissed him with a wave of the hand. Taking his cue Gajeel got up and left without a word.

"So Koryn what do you think about our newest member?" Ivan asked the shadow mage.

Koryn thought for a moment. "I don't like him Alpha. He seems too sadistic to really be with us."

Ivan glared at the young man, "do you doubt me Koryn?" He asked with an icy tone.

"Of course not," Koryn reassured, "I know you will do what is best."

* * *

"So Levy are you going to compete in the Miss Fairy Tail Pageant?" Mira asked.

"I don't think so Mira I mean I wouldn't have a chance against you, Erza, and Cana." Levy said with a sigh.

"Oh don't-hic- be like that, it'll be fun." Cana said with a slur. Levy looked behind her and saw multiple barrels behind her.

"I don't think so," Levy said.

"Well I already signed you up," Mira said with a smile.

"Mira!" Levy screamed. "I can't believe you would do that!" Mira tilted her head to the side with the smile still plastered on her face. "Actually I can believe it."

Levy felt an arm drape over her shoulder. "come on Levy," Cana said, "What- hic- what- hic- what-hic- could go wrong?"

* * *

Please be kind in reviews.

Next chapter will start my quick Fighting Festival arch, most likely will start when Levy gets unfrozen.


	8. Chapter 8 Thunder Parade

_hotleafjuice1014: Sorry but Koryn is definitely not Rogue. Koryn is an OC I made around the time of the Tenrou Island arc, when I wondered if there was a Shadow Dragon Slayer. By the time Rogue came into the picture I had Koryn's story all made._

The parade is my gift to you guys for Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, and New Year's. Consider it an Omake. I most likely won't consider it cannon to the story, unless I say otherwise or reference it outside another Omake.

I do not own Fairy Tail

**Chapter 8**

**Thunder Parade**

Gajeel sat in the guild beside a large pile of books and a certain blue haired mage. He wanted to be outside fighting the master's bastard of a grandson, but the green haired freaks runes were somehow keeping him inside. All of the other members had been defeated already, except for, him, Natsu, and the girls that had competed in the Miss Fairy Tail contest. The girls were gone trying to take down the rest of Laxus' lackeys except the green haired gun mage, Biscuit, Gajeel thought her name was, and Levy who was busy trying to dispel the ruins.

Master Makarov was in the infirmary having suffered a heart attack after his grandson had told him about the 'Hall of Thunder'. Biscuit was in the bed next to Makarov after trying to shoot down one of the thunder lacrima that surrounded the entire town.

Natsu was busy pushing against the rune barrier as if he was going to find a gap in the magic. What an idiot. There was no way to her out of the guild as long as those ruins were in place so it was a waste of energy to keep trying.

When the fighting had first started Gajeel had decided to wait in the guild. After joining the way he did Gajeel figured that it would be a bad idea to fight with any of the other members; regardless of the circumstances. But that did not mean would not get ready; if Laxus' teammates were half as strong as he was Gajeel's strength would be needed. While everybody had freaked out and run out of the guild without a plan Gajeel had calmly walked behind the counter and began eating all the metal that he could get his hands on, Mira would understand… hopefully.

With that thought came what he had felt seeing the girls frozen. True he hadn't really cared about biscuit being frozen, and to be honest, at first he had felt a sadistic pleasure at Erza being frozen. The re-quip mage had it out for him. Not that he could really blame her for that. But the pleasure had been there for a moment; until the situation became clear. After that Gajeel was forced to look at the whole thing in a new light. As the other mages stormed out of the guild he had looked at the frozen girls again.

Cana, the mage who had been the first to be willing to give him a chance and work with him, was the first in line. They had spent his first day in the guild working together, since nobody else had been able to stand being near him. Throughout the day they had slowly gotten to know each other. She was still one of the few members of the guild brave enough to approach him. And the only one who was brave enough to joke around with him. (Salamander was just stupid enough to joke around). Gajeel knew that she didn't fully trust him yet, but he only respected her for it. Gajeel could count the number of people he respected in this guild on one hand, and she had quickly made her way onto the list.

Next was Mirajane. The barmaid had really been the first member to accept Gajeel but it had been so quick that he had been certain that she had some sort of ulterior motive. Gajeel had learned quickly though that Mira barely had a devious bone in her body; unless it came to matchmaking as rumor had it. She had from the beginning she had acted as though he had taken no art in the guild war. It had made him very uneasy at first but he was slowly coming to accept that as just the way she was. She also made the short list.

Next was Levy, the girl he had attacked. He didn't know how to feel about her. Sure he was angry that she was frozen just like he was angry about Cana and Mira, but did he have a right to be angry for her. He had attacked her not to long ago, left her bruised and battered, and now he was upset that someone had turned her to stone. Sure he had jumped in front of Laxus' lightning bolt to save her but that had just been an instinct thing; she was small and would have died from it, he was big and would sustain only a minor injury. The longer he thought about it the more he figured it was because he owed her. Not only for attacking her but because she was the reason he was in Fairy Tail. Sure Master Makarov had invited him, but Gajeel knew that if she had just said the word Makarov would have not let him join. She had let him stay for reasons that Gajeel couldn't even begin to guess.

He had been angry at all of these girls predicament but none pissed him off more than Juvia. The Water mage had really been the first friend that he had made. After Metalicana had left he had lived on the streets for a few years before joining Phantom Lord. Not long after he joined Phantom, Juvia had come to the guild. Both had been loners from the start, but gradually they had started occupying the same dark corner of the guild hall trying to get away from the others. After a few weeks of sitting near each other Juvia had broken the ice with a simple observation about the one of the idiots in the guild that caused Gajeel to snort. After that they had slowly become friends. Or at least closest thing either one had ever had at the time. According to Makarov Juvia had asked him to let Gajeel into the guild. Why she had gone out of her way to do that Gajeel still didn't know. Maybe the water mage knew him better than he realized.

After almost all of the mages were beaten Makarov had asked him to save the guild. Gajeel smirked at the thought. Barely over a week as a part of the guild that he had tried to destroy and he was being asked to save it. The problem was just like Natsu he couldn't get out of the guild, unlike Natsu he knew that the rune barrier wasn't going to give in to brute force. Erza had recovered from being petrified first; apparently it was because she had a fake eye. Not long after she joined the fight the other women had been freed. After a lot of talking and one disastrous attempt to take down the Hall of Thunder, the girls had left to try to save the guild. All except Levy who stayed behind because she was the only one that had a chance to let the Dragon Slayers out. So here he sat waiting for the blue haired mage to let him out so that he could fight that lightning bastard.

"Break down the rogue characters, arrange the data into basic character material." The girl said bringing Gajeel out of his thoughts. "Identify the base characters used in rule construction… L, O, S, U… Now if we map those onto basic Guile grammar…" She continued.

Gajeel stared at her for a moment. 'Is that even English?' he asked in his head. "You're incredible you know… I can't understand a word you're saying…" Gajeel said out loud. He'd never be able to do what this girl was doing.

"No! The L and S are a bluff! The key code is 'ALS,'" she shouted in Gajeel's direction. Ignoring what he had said.

"I… I see…" Gajeel lied. Maybe if he went along with what she said she could solve it faster. He felt so worthless just sitting here doing nothing. He looked toward the opposite wall. All the information that had come in had appeared there. Currently nobody was fighting, but how long would that last?

"Don't worry," the blunette said tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm going to get you guys out of here."

Gajeel didn't deserve her trust and he opened his mouth to tell her just that.

"Please," she interrupted, "Stop Laxus." She stared at him with a look that he could not argue against.

Just then Natsu slammed his head against the enchantment. "Hurry up…" Natsu growled flames radiating out of his skin.

* * *

Ten minutes later levy had rewritten the ruins and stood with Gajeel in the guild hall, after her suggestion they had decided to split up. Gajeel had decided to hang back in the guild for a few minutes to let Natsu get far enough away that they wouldn't get caught in a ruin trap.

Levy looked at the man standing beside her. She had been focused on what she was doing earlier that what he had said had kind of been filed away for later. Now his words came rushing back into the forefront of her mind.

_You're incredible you know._

Levy felt herself blush at the praise. To think she had been complimented by the Iron Dragon Slayer. All she had done was taken down a barrier. He was the one that was truly incredible.

Since he had joined the guild last week he had done everything he could to get the guild to accept him. He had been one of the hardest workers when building the guild, even staying up all night to finish most of the building while the others slept. No one had really questioned how the guild had gone from one giant room to only needing about an hour of work in just one night. He had gone up on stage in front of everybody and had sung that song. A small smile appeared on Levy's face at the memory. The lyrics had been… interesting. Not bad, but not amazing. His voice wasn't bad either; it just didn't really fit with the style of song. In a different genre of music he could probably shine, probably not be a front-man for a band but he definitely wouldn't be out of place as a singer.

Last and not least he had saved her life. That was something she still couldn't understand. Why had he jumped in front of that attack? She knew that if that attack had hit she probably could have died. She had been immobilized by her fear and had just stood there waiting for it to hit, but it had never come. After that he had just walked off like it had been nothing.

"Well," Gajeel said pulling Levy's focus back to reality. "I guess it's time for me to go." He turned around and walked to the doors.

Levy watched him go silently. She opened her mouth to wish him luck when something a flash of green caught her eye.

* * *

"Gajeel!" Levy gasped behind him. He spun around quickly. Before he could asked her what was wrong he saw it.

Cana vs. Juvia

"Shit!" Gajeel spat, the last thing he wanted was for any of the girls to get caught in a rune trap and have to fight and it seems like it happened anyway.

"What do you think will happen?" Levy asked.

Gajeel ran to the doors of the guild and looked out over the town. He sniffed the air trying to figure out which direction they had gone off in. Levy walked over and appeared at his side. "Where are they?" she asked. Gajeel wondered how she knew what he was doing but remembered that she has dealt with Salamander for years; of course she knew that he could smell them.

He pointed in the direction that they had left just minutes before. He had no idea if he was pointing to where they actually were but it was the best he could do. He and Levy stood there staring out the door for a minute before they saw water flying up and bouncing off of invisible walls higher and higher.

"What is she doing?" Gajeel growled. He didn't think that Juvia would attack Cana, but from this distance he couldn't tell what was going on. There was a flash of light and Gajeel's stomach dropped. Beside him Levy gasped in horror, she knew what happened too. "That idiot!" Gajeel said in a rage. "She's made of water so what does she do? She attacks a thunder lacrima." Gajeel looked back into the guild looking at the rune message.

Winner Cana.

"She took herself out of the fight so that she wouldn't have to fight Cana," Levy said in understanding.

Gajeel stared at the message as it slowly faded. "It's time for me to join the fight," he said resolutely. Levy nodded beside him. As he turned there was another flash of green.

Cana vs. Fried

"Kick his ass Cana," Gajeel commanded as he walked out of the door.

* * *

Gajeel was almost to the cathedral. He stood on a tree branch trying to determine if any of Laxus' bodyguards were waiting for him. One named Evergreen had been defeated by Erza to free all the other girls. Cana had fought another by the name of Fried; there had been a terrifying amount of magical aura in the air not long ago that felt like evil incarnate. Gajeel wasn't sure if that came from the bodyguard but he doubted it. Cana didn't seem able to have that kind of foreboding magic either. Whoever possessed it Gajeel hoped he was on the same side. A large explosion in the air not too long ago signaling the end of the fight but according to Gajeel's calculations that still left one Raijinshu unaccounted for; hence his caution.

After a few minutes of searching the area Gajeel was ready to depart, when a raven landed on the branch beside him. Gajeel looked at the bird warily as it slowly changed into a human shaped piece of paper.

"Aaahh Gajeel-Chan how are you doing?" the paper asked in Ivan's voice.

"Sorry Master but I don't really have time to talk right now," Gajeel stated simply but he had a feeling that the other man was aware of this fact.

"Why not Gajeel-Chan" Ivan asked in a placating tone. "What is going on?"

"You're son has started a fight between the guild and right now I am going to stop him at the request of your father," Gajeel informed the man hiding the fact that Makarov was out of commission from his heart attack.

"And you expect to do this on your own?" Ivan asked Gajeel could hear the smugness in his voice.

"I probably could but Makarov also sent Salamander," Gajeel said making sure to add disgust into his voice.

"What are you going to do about that?" Ivan asked not even trying to hide his amusement.

Gajeel let out a small laugh. "I've gotta settle things with Salamander one of these days," Gajeel said, "but right now, beating that cocky little thunder asshole comes first. That's one guy who's seriously pissed me off." Gajeel glanced toward the shikigami. "That sound all right with you Master Ivan?" Gajeel asked.

"Right now, it is important that you gain their trust as a 'comrade,'" Ivan said through the paper puppet. "Don't draw attention to yourself. For the moment you'll play the loyal Fairy Tail member. Delivering Fairy Tail their 'punishment' will come in due time."

"Roger that," Gajeel said as the paper changed back into a raven and flew away.

'Not if I can help it,' Gajeel thought as he jumped of the branch.

* * *

Levy was running. There wasn't much time left before… no she couldn't think about that. She had to get to the cathedral soon.

Before she knew it she was running passed Erza, who was lying on the ground. The S-class mage called after her but Levy was too lost in her mission to notice.

As Levy ran into the church she had to slow down due to all the rubble. "Stop Laxus," She shouted as she came around one of the large pillars at the entrance.

"Levy," Natsu shouted.

"You fool… what are you doing here?" Gajeel yelled.

Levy heard neither of the Dragon Slayers. She saw none of the devastation that the battle had wrought on the once beautiful building. The only thing that she could see was the shirtless blond man holding a ball of magic in his hands.

"The Master is…" Levy started to say. Laxus didn't even seem to notice her. "Your own grandfather…" she said trying to hold back her tears, "is on death's door!"

Laxus paused in his casting of whatever spell he was planning on using. The air became strangely still after her announcement. "So please!" She begged the blonde man. "Just stop this and go see him!"

The magic in Laxus' hands kept building slowly. The Master's grandson seemed to be frozen in place. "Laxus," Levy shouted trying to pull him back to reality.

"Well that suits me just great," the thunder mage said when he came back to reality. "It looks like my chances of becoming Master just went up again."

Levy felt tears fill her eyes. How could he be so cruel? How could he not care… no this was worse. He was happy that his grandfather was about to die.

As she watched Laxus began to laugh hysterically. The magic in his hands grew exponentially. Levy had only felt this kind of strength once before. It had been when master had finished the war with Phantom Lord with only one spell. The uber-magic; Fairy Law.

"Die Fairy Tail," Laxus shouted as he finished the spell. "I'll build you up again from scratch! A guild that will never lose! That'll make everyone tremble in fear! I'll make the ultimate guild!"

"No," Levy said softly as she sank to her knees. It was over. They had failed. Laxus was too far gone to stop now. She just played that her death would be quick.

"Fairy Law," Laxus shouted, "Activate."

'This is it,' Levy thought as she shielded her eyes from the bright light. 'This is how I die.'

The spell washed over her, at least it didn't hurt

* * *

Levy started coughing hard.

'It's dusty in the Spirit World,' Levy thought as she tried to stop her coughing.

"Why are they not dead?" Laxus shouted.

Levy opened her eyes. She wasn't dead? She looked around her nothing had changed inside the church other than all the dust in the air. She looked over to where Natsu and Gajeel were laying down, only to meet a certain pair of red eyes.

"You okay?" Gajeel asked between coughs.

"I'm fine," Levy answered glad that he was alright as well. She looked at the pink haired Dragon Slayer. "What about Natsu?"

Gajeel turned his gaze to the still fire mage. "… He looks alright," Gajeel said despite the fact that Natsu hadn't moved.

"What the fuck's going on?" Laxus shouted, "How can anyone survive an attack of that magnitude?"

"The guild members… and all the townspeople are safe," a voice said from behind Levy.

"Fried?" She shouted when she saw the green haired mage. He was heavily injured, and panting from the effort of getting to the cathedral; who had done this to him.

"Not a single person has been harmed," he continued staring past Levy and straight to Laxus.

"That's just not possible," Laxus raged, "My Fairy Law was perfect!"

"It's your heart Laxus," Fried panted he looked like he was about to collapse. "Your power and your magical ability aren't the only things… that you've inherited from the master. A heart that cares for its comrades. Fairy Law only affects those whom the user recognizes as his enemies. Do you understand what I'm saying Laxus?"

"His magic penetrated to the depths of his heart," Levy mused out loud.

"You can't lie to your magic Laxus," Fried said with a smile. "This is how you truly feel."

"No!" Laxus denied, "Anybody who gets in my way is an enemy! They're enemies1"

"Give it up already Laxus," Fried said in an exasperated tone. "Just go see the master."

"I don't care what the hell happens to that old fart," Laxus shouted. "I am myself! I'm not his grandson! I'm Laxus! I'm Laxus!"

Levy stared at the blond mage as he had a mental breakdown; maybe there was more going on here than she knew about.

"We all know that," Natsu said as he struggled to get up. "Don't get all bigheaded on us dumbass. So what if you're the old man's grandkid? does that make you so special? So different?" Natsu asked as he stood all the way up, flame engulfing his fists. "Don't you get hung up over some stupid blood relation! The guild is the only family we need!"

"What could you understand?" Laxus growled as lightning crackled around him.

"Do we have to understand to be your comrades?" Natsu asked the flames on his fist growing bigger. "We reach our hands out to one another to get past that!" He charged the older mage, "Laxus!"

Laxus pulled lightning to his fist and ran toward the Fire Dragon Slayer. "Shaddup, Natsu," He shouted.

"The guild is our home," Natsu shouted as he swung his fist towards Laxus who did the same.

Laxus' fist connected due to his longer arms and sent the fire mage tumbling backwards.

"Natsu," Levy shouted in worry, even as he got up and charged Laxus again.

"Why you," Laxus shouted as he punched Natsu in the face, "Why won't you just die?" Laxus slammed the younger mage into the ground. "As though the likes of you could ever defeat me!"

"Natsu," Levy gasped. How could Laxus be so cruel to him? Didn't his casting of Fairy Law prove that he actually did care about the members of Fairy Tail?

Natsu began to push himself up. "The guild doesn't belong to you," he said as blood poured from his mouth. "Just think about it Laxus…"

"Shut up!" Laxus shouted delivering a kick to Natsu's chest sending the mage flying, "You're a hundred years too early to be lecturing me! Got that!"

Natsu started to push himself up to the shock of everyone around. "Just stop already Natsu," Levy begged her friend, "You'll kill yourself."

"Little brat," Laxus shouted gathering a massive bolt of lightning into his hands. "I'll kill you so dead that there will be nothing left! Thunder Dragon Heavenward!"

Laxus completed the spell and shot a giant lightning spear at Natsu. The Fire Dragon Slayer was too injured to dodge. Levy covered her eyes; she couldn't watch her friend die. Fried shouted something behind her.

"Nooooooo," Levy shouted her fear, frustration, and Anger at the whole situation making their way into her scream.

"Haaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh," a voice screamed.

'Wait that wasn't Natsu,' Levy thought. Quickly opened her eyes and took in the scene before her.

"Gajeel?" she questioned. The Iron dragon was standing with one of his arms turned into a metal pole. As Levy looked at him ribbons of electricity would dance around his body. His normally stoic face was contorted into a look of pain. He had used himself as a lightning rod to deflect the attack from Natsu and taking it himself. 'I wonder if Laxus' lightning hurts him more since he is a conductor.' Levy thought randomly.

Gajeel hit the ground with a thud. He looked towards Natsu. "Go," he ordered the fire mage.

Natsu sprinted towards Laxus who was frozen in place after exerting all that magic. "Fire Dragon Claw," Natsu said punching Laxus in the face with a flaming fist. "Fire Dragon Wing!" a flaming kick to the chin. "Fire Dragon Slicing Horn!' a head-butt.

Levy was mesmerized by the display of sheer power in front of her. She had once found a book that talked about Dragon Slayer Magic. Not much was given about the individual types but it did speak about their abilities as a whole. "This magic," she recited subconsciously, "It smashes through dragon scales, crushes dragon entrails, and reaps dragon souls."

"Fire Dragon Crimson Exploding Flame Blade," Natsu shouted.

Laxus was caught in a swirling vortex of fire and explosions. Levy was stunned. She looked over towards Gajeel who was just lying on the ground smirking, as Natsu yelled announcing his victory.

* * *

Several days later were the day of the Fantasia Parade. After the battle of Fairy Tail Laxus had been excommunicated from the guild. Everyone had been shocked that the master had actually taken such an extreme punishment, but they had understood (except Natsu). Nobody however had the time to dwell on it because they had to hurry with the preparations for the parade. Within an hour of starting work on the parade the battle was forgotten by everyone, although Mira seemed less energetic than usual.

Gajeel had been mostly immobile the first two days of preparation due to a leg cast, not because anything was broken, but due to the fact that it had been his right leg had been grounded when he took Laxus last attack. The guild medic, a terrifying woman, had placed it on him citing that he was 'to stubborn to let his leg take the time to heal.' That however hadn't stopped people from asking for his help.

It had all started with Cana and Elfman coming over to where he had been sitting next to Natsu arguing about trivial matters out of sheer boredom. They had asked him to help them put together the float that Elfman was going to be on. After calling Natsu worthless a few times, Gajeel followed after them. They told him their idea for the float and Gajeel had to admit he actually liked it a lot.

Elman was going to use his full beast-man take-over, and was going to act like he was trapped inside of the cage that they were asking Gajeel to make. After Elfman showed Gajeel his full take-over form, Gajeel was struck by inspiration. He pitched the idea to the other two, who had instantly liked it; because Gajeel only ever had good ideas. So instead of a simple cage, Gajeel spent his time making chains so that they could chain Elfman to the dungeon wall that he and Cana were making.

After that everybody else had come up to him asking him to help them in making supports and the like for their floats. Everybody seemed much more accepting of him after the battle. Levy had actually come up to him during lunch on the day of the parade.

"_So Gajeel," the short mage started nervously, "what are you going to do during the parade?"_

_Gajeel looked at the girl beside him. He actually hadn't thought about doing anything during the parade, maybe watching from some random roof. "I don't plan on doing anything," he informed the bluenette. _

"_Awww, but Gajeel, it'll be fun," Levy said in a slightly whiny tone causing Cana to snort behind her barrel. _

"_Do you honestly think I would have fun prancing around like an idiot for the amusement of idiotic children and even dumber adults?" Gajeel said lifting an eyebrow at the girl beside him. _

"_Gajeel it's not that bad," Levy chided Gajeel. Actually chided him. When the hell did she get comfortable enough to do that? "In fact it's not bad at all!"_

"_I said no woman!" Gajeel said hoping to end the discussion._

"_But Gajeel it would help everyone accept you that much faster," Levy argued giving him a small glare because of his stubbornness. _

"_How the fuck did you get the idea that I want people to like me?" Gajeel asked, and then proceeded to ignore the smirks that everybody at the table sent his way. Okay that was a weak argument; he had spent a lot of time trying to change the guild's opinion about him. It wasn't that he necessarily wanted them to like him; he just didn't want them to hate him so much. But given recent events he wasn't hated anymore. He looked around the table at the people who actually liked him enough to not avoid him like a plague; Cana, the Strauss siblings, Macao, Wakabe, and Levy. Granted some of them would not it with him if there were more tables. Some had to be put away to make room for the floats being built._

"_Okay," Levy said deciding to just go with that argument. "How about to show off your magic?"_

"_No," Gajeel said flatly he would not allow her to manipulate him due to his pride in his magic. While he was proud of his magical strength too many people had tried to use that to get him to do what they wanted. _

"_Oh," Levy said disappointedly. She stroked her glass of water trying to come up with another argument. Gajeel turned his head thinking that he had won and missed the triumphant smirk that presented itself on the shorty's face when she discovered the perfect angle. "If you're too injured to do it just say so Gajeel. I'll understand."_

_Everything that is Gajeel froze. His body, his face, even his mind except for two words; 'the fuck? _

_Gajeel in slow jerky movements, like a gear that wasn't willing to start, turned to look at the girl sitting beside him. He was going to give her a piece of his mind, and a long lecture on how she should know better than that. However his brain had still not caught up and all he could muster was, "Wha?"_

_Levy lifted her hand and began to trace her finger around the brim of her cup. "I mean, you did get pretty beat up in your fight with Laxus," she said nonchalantly, like she wasn't questioning his strength. "I mean, I just figured since Natsu is going to take part in the parade that you were healed enough to take part too." She shrugged her shoulders and gave an over-the-top wistful sigh. "But if you still are too injured to participate I guess you should just stay here in the infirmary." She finally turned to look at him with such a smug expression that the word 'checkmate' seemed to float around with devil wings and tails. Gajeel looked around the table, everyone was snickering, except Cana who was outright cackling and Juvia who was trying (and failing) to hide her smile behind her hand. _

_Gajeel opened his mouth to decline but magic damn it she had him. "Fine, I'll figure something out," Gajeel relented. Levy made the most girlish noise Gajeel had ever heard and latched onto his arm in a fierce hug, causing Gajeel to almost fall out of his chair. Now the two geezers were laughing their asses off with Cana and everyone else was chuckling at his predicament._

"_Good," Levy said letting go of his arm, "I'm sure that whatever you do will be great." With that she skipped away from him in victory._

_Gajeel let out a groan and slammed his head down on the table. Gajeel felt somebody place a hand on his shoulder. He spun his head on the table and saw that the hand belonged to Juvia who looked at him with what he guessed was supposed to be understanding, but the effect was ruined by her ear to ear grin._

_From the other side of the table Cana made a whipping noise that caused everyone to let loose another round of laughter, even Juvia. Traitor._

So now here Gajeel was walking through the streets of Magnolia in cloths better suited for a prince than a dragon like himself. At least he had gotten to choose the colors. The jacket that he wore buttoned all the way up was black with gold threading. On his shoulders were golden epaulettes that were simple yet elegant, the rest of the jacket was accented with matching cords of thin rope. The pants were black as well with a red sash tied around his waist with the ends falling about a foot on his right side. His boots were also black with gold buckles. His usual mane of black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and he was missing his nose piercings.

As he walked down the street beside Elfman's float he would occasionally nodded to the citizens lining the road. After losing another argument with Levy before the parade started Gajeel would walk over to somebody in the audience and use his magic to make them something. After the first few times though Gajeel began to enjoy their reactions.

For the women and young girls he would make a simple flower; nothing to fancy just a simple four petal flower. The young girls generally hide behind their parents or whoever was with them. At first Gajeel thought it was because of fright, but as Mira had told him once when they had been at a standstill, it was actually because they were shy. Sometimes he would make the stem smaller and place it in the girls' hair. The older woman would swoon over him, and instantly show of their flower.

For the young men he would make a small sword. He took extra care that these swords were light and so dull that they couldn't even cut through a loaf of bread. When one of the kids had asked Gajeel why he had made the kid a sword, he told him, "So that one day you can be a strong enough warrior to protect your princes." Cana and Lucy had been nearby at the moment shaking hands with people and blowing kisses and had proceeded to give a never ending string of awww's. He had walked back towards the float closely followed by those two, somehow picking up Mira and Levy in the process. When Cana began to explain why they were being pests to the other two Gajeel calmly told them that he was 'just in character,' by shouting quiet enough not to be heard by the crowd.

"Either way, I thought it was just adorable." Cana said patting him on the shoulder. Gajeel clenched his fist, did this woman have no survival instinct at all. He wasn't about to cause a scene in public by sending an Iron Fist at the card mage.

"Leave him alone Cana," Mira scolded. "But Gajeel I can't believe how good you are at this; especially with the kids."

"I'm a good actor," Gajeel said. It better be the truth or he would be dead soon because of Raven Tail.

"Still I can't believe you're so nice to the kids," Lucy said, "Where was that when you kidnapped me."

Everybody took a quick looked at Lucy in shock. "Lu-Chan!" Levy gasped.

"Because," Gajeel said ignoring the barb; he probably did deserve it after all. "When I was their age I was living on the streets. I figure they should have a better childhood than the ones I saw growing up."

Everybody was quiet as they stared at Gajeel, did he really just reveal that much about his past.

"Well either way you made those kids night," Mira said breaking the awkward tension, "if not their week."

The other girls nodded their agreement. Lucy gave Gajeel an apologetic look. He gave her a smirk and shook his head, her apology wasn't needed.

"Look at the Master," somebody in the crowd shouted. The group of mages turned around and saw the signal go up. They all turned to the crowed and struck the same pose as the rest of the guild. From what Gajeel understood it was a sign that Laxus had created in the past for his grandfather. Now however, it was being used by the guild to tell Laxus that, even though he had been excommunicated, the guild still considered him a comrade and would be watching him as he made his way through the world.

After they stuck the pose Gajeel walked to the next part of the parade, the performance area. All along the parade route there were magical video boards hovering in the air showing the performance that was going on. The girls from the Mrs. Fairy Tail pageant that weren't on other floats walked on and showed off their magic.

After they were done it was Gajeel's turn. Mira was actually the mastermind of this performance. The whole thing involved him, Elman, and Cana. When Elfman's float reached the platform and appeared on the screen Gajeel set everything in motion by walking towards one of the little girls in the audience.

When he reached her he noticed with a smirk that she was not a normal little girl. She didn't hide behind her mother but instead stared at him as he slowly got down on one knee in front of her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that he and the girl were the only things on the viewing screen. He held at his hand and the girl took it blushing gently. The crowd surrounding them let out a collective 'aww' as he gently kissed the girls hand; it took everything he had not to roll his eyes.

He cursed Mira once again for making him do this, but she had stated that he owed her one for tying her up back stage. Then she vaguely threatened him with bodily harm; and after seeing what she did to Fried he didn't want to risk it.

After kissing the girls hand he used his magic to create an intricate rose minus the thorns to give to the girl. She tentatively reached out and took the rose before clutching it close to her chest. Gajeel was trying to get up when the girl shot forward and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek. Gajeel couldn't stop the small smile the made its way onto his mouth.

Before he could figure out what to do next Elfman let out a loud roar and broke the chains that were binding him to the wall. The crowd let out a collective scream, of fright. Elfman may be a maybe a respected member of the guild but right now he was pretty intimidating.

Following Mira's earlier direction Gajeel spun around placing the girl behind him. The camera crew seemed to have figured out that this was part of the show and had half of the screens showing Elfman and the other half showing Gajeel. Elfman reached for the girls who shrieked like they were in actual danger. After a moment there was an even louder shriek. Gajeel looked at the girls for a moment before he was supposed to leap into action and save Cana, except there was one problem.

Cana was still standing by Mira.

The card mage looked as confused as Gajeel felt. He looked at Elfman's hand and saw a certain solid script mage struggling in his hand, playing the part of the damsel in distress perfectly due to her shock. Gajeel looked back to the girls who were all staring at Mira who had a big grin plastered onto her face. She raised her hands as if to say 'what are you waiting for? Get on with it.'

'Stupid, devious, she-devil,' Gajeel cursed in his head, before jumping into battle.

"Oh no the prince is going to fight the beast," the announcer said, no longer focused on what floats were coming up next, "but he has no weapon! What will he do?"

Gajeel scoffed this announcer was an amateur. He transformed his arm into a sword shredding the right sleeve of his jacket, and swung it at Elfman, who sidestepped. Elman set Levy down in the small cage that Gajeel had rigged to pop out of the float when Elfman stepped off.

Elfman swung his arm towards Gajeel who created a shield to block the blow. Gajeel jumped into the air as Elfman punched the ground where he used to be. When Gajeel landed he charged Elfman again. He swung his sword for the beast's chest, missing at the last second when Elfman jumped backwards onto one of the buildings. The crowd gasped below him and one man screamed about not wanting his shop to be destroyed.

Elfman jumped from the building and tried to squash Gajeel who rolled out of the way. Gajeel turned towards the beast again and charged forward getting his sword ready for the final strike.

In the most cliché fashion possible Gajeel and Elfman passed each other seemingly untouched until Elfman fell. The crowd went crazy. Ignoring them, Gajeel walked towards Levy's cage and quickly bent the bars and helped her out of the cell.

The girl was pissed. Not at Gajeel no her eyes were focused solely on Mira, who just stood there with an innocent smile and waved.

"I am going to kill her," Levy said.

"Easy shrimp," Gajeel said walking with her to the edge of the float. "Remember what she did to Fried." Levy glared at the ground after Gajeel's reminder that the old 'Demon' was back.

"Don't call me Shrimp," the small girl commanded.

"What? Speak up! I can't hear you from down there," Gajeel said before laughing his trademark laugh. He jumped down from the float and offered his hand to the smaller girl just like Mira's script commanded. Levy glared at him still sore from the short comments. Gajeel rolled his eyes and scooped the angry girl into his arms and proceeded to carry her to the middle of the performance zone. "I know you're not happy about this," Gajeel said, "but just go with it for now. We'll pay Mira back ten-fold later."

"Promise?" Levy asked. Gajeel looked down at the short mage in his arms; she was as red as Erza's hair.

"Yeah," Gajeel said setting her down. "You know, you look like Biscuit whenever that love-sick coward is around."

Levy looked at him in confusion, "who?"

"Biscuit," Gajeel said, didn't Levy know her own guild mates? "Green hair. Gun magic."

"Bisca," Levy said enunciating every syllable slowly, "and I'm guessing the other is Alzac." She informed the mage before getting redder and shooting another glare at Gajeel. "And I am not!"

Gajeel was stopped from answering when the crowd started chanting the word kiss over and over. He looked around and saw Mira chanting along with the crowd with a huge grin on her face; no doubt she started the whole thing. Next to her was Cana who looked on with another shit eating grin, and Target Bunny who could only be described as positively scandalized.

Gajeel looked back at the blue head girl and saw that she was blushing so hard that Gajeel wondered if there was any blood left in the rest of her body. As he stared she turned to look at him with the most helpless look he had ever seen and suddenly his mind was on that night. What was Mira thinking? How could she be trying to get him to do this? With her of all people?

"What do we do?" Levy asked in a worried tone, bringing Gajeel back to his current predicament. "Do we go along with it?"

"I have an idea," Gajeel said.

Before Levy could ask what it was Gajeel stepped closer to her and touched the side of her face. Ignoring her squeak of surprise he bent her backwards into a kiss that he had seen in countless movies.

Except, he didn't touch her lips.

Instead he used the hand that was still on her cheek, to hide the fact that their lips weren't actually touching. The only people in the crowd that could tell were Mirajane, Lucy, and Cana. "How's this?" Gajeel asked.

"Good," Levy squeaked.

Gajeel let her back up and waved to the cheering crowd before walking passed to join the girls. "Pay backs a bitch," he whispered to Mira as he walked by.

* * *

Later that night Cana and Mirajane were talking in the corner of the guild; as far away from Gajeel as they could get.

"Did you think that that would actually work?" Cana asked the take-over mage. Mira was silent as she thought about how Gajeel would try to get her back. "It's too early to try to fix those two up," Cana said after a moment.

That got Mira's attention. "You think they could?" she asked.

"Maybe," Cana conceded. "A long way down the road."

Mira frowned and stared at the table in front of her. One of the nails had been hammered into the wood a bit too hard. "What do you think Gajeel will do?" Mira asked. Sure she was probably stronger than the Iron Dragon Slayer, but he had shown himself to be pretty sneaky, devious, and cruel.

"I'd worry about Levy," Cana said taking a drink from her barrel. Mira began to cry and slammed her head on the table.

* * *

Ha, i'm very tempted to make it cannon, i will probably make some more omakes to finish this little parade arc.

Tell me what you think in the form of a review.


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